


without borders

by ackerwhat



Category: Wanna One (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hospital, Alternate Universe - Military, Descendants of the Sun AU, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-27
Updated: 2019-03-27
Packaged: 2019-12-18 16:27:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 34,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18253577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ackerwhat/pseuds/ackerwhat
Summary: Meet Dr. Ha Sungwoon and Captain Kang Daniel.a.k.a Nielwoon Descendants of the Sun AU





	1. one

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The term 'Doctors without Borders' or 'Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)' would be used interchangeably here. ^^
> 
> Disclaimer: I am no medical student nor have I been to the military wkwkwk

👨⚕️

* * *

 

[1]

 

Sungwoon inspected the wound on the patient’s hip. When he looked up at the sitting patient, the man just tilted his head and smiled. How could someone with a line of opened stitches be that eager to be further prodded by a doctor. Sungwoon then started cleaning the wound that bled out oozes of blood.

 

“It looks like your stitches opened up from fighting earlier.” He noted, remembering the case relayed to him by one of the nurses prior. Two men, soldiers, as their identities were confirmed, had helped a kid from being beaten up by a group of gang members. The kid was sent to their hospital and the two men had trailed along to give statements to the police.

 

The soldier, Kang Daniel, he’d introduced himself, seemed to ponder for a while when Sungwoon asked him when did he get hurt. Sungwoon wondered briefly if he had that much wounds that he had no idea where this one was resulted from. “It’s been a few days.” He answered.  

 

Sungwoon looked up and stilled his fingers from moving. He was just curious. “How did you get hurt?”

 

Daniel’s eyes trailed to the side again as he tried to explain what happened. “While I was shovelling with my unit. The one thing soldiers should know how to do is to shovel.” That was part of the truth, soldiers are always stationed to do work like that, especially now that’s winter. When they’re not given any important missions, that’s usually how they spend their time, scooping out snow by the sidewalks of public buildings.

 

“Is that so?” Sungwoon mumbled, as he returned back to his work. He tried not paying close attention to his patient’s muscled body, and instead _just be professional, goddamn it, Ha Sungwoon_. He took his eyes off and peeked at Daniel’s face again. After another beat of silence, Sungwoon continued, “What a strange unit, getting shot while shovelling.”

 

Daniel seemed stunned, taken aback. Sungwoon smiled at him, “This is a gunshot wound, am I right?” He was tempted to poke harder for the attempted lie Daniel had given him, but decided not to. He still had his professional ethic straight after all.

 

“You’ve seen a gunshot wound before?” Daniel asked, genuinely surprised, as if a doctor shouldn’t have been seeing all types of injuries taken to their workplace.

 

But still, Sungwoon explained, “I haven’t seen it much here. But I know from a glance as a result of seeing it when I did volunteer work in the middle east.” Sungwoon completed his stitches and like a trained soldier, it didn’t bother Daniel much. He was just sitting there, giving Sungwoon funny glances from time to time. A good boy, nevertheless, Sungwoon’s mind offered.

 

“Doctor without borders?”

 

“Around two years ago?”

 

Daniel had an annoying small smile on his face. Sungwoon huffed quietly at that, annoyed that his heart was feeling ‘ _stuff’_.

 

“I’m saying this since you’ve already known, but this is actually a scar from Normandy.” Daniel laid the truth. Sungwoon continued dressing up a new patch over his wound while Daniel continued sharing his story, “Back then, the gunshots were coming like rain. I went through the bullets to save my fellow soldier, that I did.” He had a distant look on his face.

 

Sungwoon knew the risks of what being a soldier bring, but still, that was stretching it. “Was that soldier’s name Private Ryan by any chance?”

 

Daniel smiled back contently, looking at Sungwoon’s attempt of joking with that straight face, as if he was saying that ‘do I look that much of a fool to you?’ Sungwoon stared back without any hesitation.

 

In that split moment of eye contact, Daniel could appreciate exclusively the doctor’s beauty—his pretty eyes, pretty lashes, his cute cheekbones, and those thick lips.

 

It’d be very easy to plant a kiss on it from his stance here, he thought. But that disturbing piece of mind was excavated to the ground when Sungwoon pulled back and started cleaning up his equipment. “The stiches can be removed after a week, but you’ll need to keep the area sanitised until then.”

 

Daniel nodded, he knew the drills and pulled his shirt back down, missing entirely the little exhale Sungwoon let out. “There’s a hospital in the army too, right?” Sungwoon asked.

 

There is. It’s just a jog away from his living quarter. Not to mention, Daniel’s badges allowed him free passes and speedy check-up. “Can I come here instead?”

 

“Isn’t it far?” Sungwoon scoffed. The closest army station was an hour and a half drive away, he knew that much.

 

“It _is_ far.” Daniel admitted. However, if his calculations were spot on, then it’d be a win for him. After all, what harm could a little bit of flirting bring. “Can I come here every day?” He asked.   

 

Sungwoon hummed at his question and boldly answered with a similar smirk playing on his face. “Every day is too much,” He shook his head. _Two could play the game_. “Maybe three times a week? If you come four times a week, then you’ll get better quickly.”

 

“Are you agreeing to be my doctor?” Daniel giggled. The similar light expression on Sungwoon’s face made his heart fluttered, not gonna lie. He has such a sweet smile.

 

“You’re just getting your wound sanitised, I think any doctor would work out fine.”

 

“It’s important,” Daniel intercepted, “Especially looking at the doctor’s beauty.”

 

Sungwoon looked at him. For a split second, he seemed surprised at Daniel’s upfront compliment. Or flirtatious lie, who’d know. “If beauty is the standard for choosing a doctor, then there’s no better choice.” Sungwoon replied, actually pleased at Daniel’s hint between the lines.

 

Not that he minded it, so he replied in such a manner to him, “I’ll make you an appointment. Come at 2pm.”

 

 

Daniel smiled in triumph. Sungwoon didn’t seem to mind his advances, and Daniel was one for some positive reinforcement. In the brief interaction they had, Sungwoon had been drawing out pleasant impression, and his cuteness was just a bonus. ( _Nah_ , the cuteness totally played a major role there, Daniel was totally gone the moment he saw him.)

 

Also, Sungwoon hadn’t pulled away when Daniel leaned in closer. Daniel would like to think that his chances were quite high.

 

With his deep voice (the one he uses for seducing men and ladies alike and also for shouting orders at his squad members), he whispered, “If you’re a doctor, you must not have a lover since you’re busy.”

 

 _‘Look at this brat, flirting with his hyung,’_ Sungwoon thought inside his head. But was he going to let Daniel have the last words, _no_ , so without holding back, he replied, “If you’re a soldier, you must not have a lover too, since it’s hard?”

 

“Who should answer the question then?” Daniel thought.

 

👨⚕️

 

“Where are you going trying to look all dolled up?” Seongwu asked as he observed Daniel who’d been holding out two similar work uniform in front of him. Daniel continued observing his looks in front of the mirror and Seongwu winced, “Ow, ow, the mirror’s going to break anytime soon.”

 

“I’m going to Gukmin Hospital tomorrow to get my wound cleaned.”

 

“We have a functioning big-ass hospital building here, but he insists on going all the way to Seoul to get his wound cleaned.” Jihoon scoffed from where he was perched on his own bed. He was trying to dress a stuffed doll (didn’t know how he could get it pass the officers) with a mini soldier uniform.

 

Daniel giggled at the cute doll before checking himself again. The outfits he presented in front of him were typically the same—they were both green chameleon uniforms for fuck’s sake. Jihoon almost threw the doll at him had he been of a more senior rank than Daniel.

 

“I need to be healthy in order to protect the country. Where else am I going to get a full excellent service of competent doctors with the best facility if not at Gukmin Hospital?”

 

Seongwu smirked and swatted Daniel’s butt proudly, “The doctor must be pretty.”

 

And Daniel gave the same shit-eating grin back, “He is.”

👨⚕️

* * *

 

[2]

 

Daniel was garbed in his uniform (the squads had eventually helped him chose his outfit, it was the one he’d washed the most recent) and stood nervously in front of the hospital entrance. He looked out of place, but it was not uncommon for a soldier to go to the hospital. But still, eyes were on him, if not in awe then in sympathetic glance, as if he did not choose this life for himself.

 

Specifically, there was one kid that had looked at him nonstop the moment Daniel stepped into the lobby.

 

Daniel offered the kid a warm smile, and he quickly hid behind his mother’s leg, looking flustered and embarrassed. _What a cutie_ , Daniel smiled to himself, but before any other thought could invade his mind, he heard a commotion coming from the main entrance.

 

When Daniel turned around, he spotted a familiar face, it was Sungwoon, kneeling on a gurney to staunch a patient’s bloody wound. The injury looked serious, gory even, and Daniel moved into the view of the kid from earlier to spare him from the horrifying scene. No one appreciated that much blood in sight.

 

Several medic practitioners were pushing the gurney as Sungwoon, coat messily covered in red patches, was working hard to minimise the patient’s blood loss. His voice was clear and unwavering as he ordered people to steer out of the way. “Can’t this thing move faster?” He asked the nurses around him.

 

Daniel’s feet moved on their own and the next moment, he found himself pushing the wheeled stretcher faster.

 

His eyes were fixed on Sungwoon the whole time, though an understandable busy Sungwoon had not noticed him at all.

 

 

When Sungwoon emerged from the long-hours of surgery, the clock mocked him, showing that he was hours late for his appointment with Daniel. He sighed, soreness and tiredness draining him down. A bit apologetically, he hoped that Daniel was no longer around. Him being totally out of mood for some blatant flirting was one thing, to top it off, he was also supporting a frantic look at the moment.

 

His fellow colleague patted him at the back, congratulating him for another successful surgery. “At this rate, it won’t take long for you to get that professor position, right Dr. Ha.”

 

Sungwoon smiled at him politely and prayed that the statement would come true (and quick!). “Thank you,” He rubbed his back awkwardly, actually feeling shy at the praises flooding over his way. He never really knew how to react to them as obnoxious as people claimed him to be.

 

When Sungwoon returned to his station, one of the nurses at the counter, Sohye, called him over. “There’s a note for you, Dr. Ha.” She said, slipping the yellow post-it to Sungwoon’s hand. Sungwoon didn’t know why she was being all shy and secretive but the blush on her face was soon explained when he saw the message on the note.

 

_‘You look so pretty working and I didn’t want to interfere. You owe me another date, though. Call me 0XX-XXXX-XXXX.’_

 

“Did Dr. Kim see this?” Sungwoon asked, fearing that a particular person might found about his little secret (it was trivial, but still) and would tease him endlessly about it.

 

Sohye shook her head and smiled encouragingly at Sungwoon. “I thought I’d save you from the trouble,” She said.

 

“You’re a life saver,” Sungwoon thanked her and slipped the little note inside his coat. He then noticed the blood stain on his dress shirt and sighed, deciding to change to a cleaner top. He put the coat on his desk and stacked heavy medical books on top of it inside the lounge area, away from prying eyes (read: Dr. Kim).

👨⚕️

* * *

 

[3]

 

“Is it always this hard to see you?” A voice sighed over the phone, deep and breathy. Like he had just ran a marathon. _Hm_. He sounded quite sexy… and Sungwoon was again momentarily distracted. _‘It couldn’t be on purpose, right?’_ Sungwoon thought as he looked at his device. _Whatever_ , he then decided, this person is a soldier so it’s not weird for him to be working out and running about all the time. Although it was now deep in the late hours.

 

“How did you know that it’s me?” Sungwoon asked. He was walking out of the hospital entrance, head bowing to some people that he’d recognised along the path. Dr. Ha is this popular among the hospital staffs, even to their extended personnel.

 

“I’ve been waiting for a call in the last two weeks…” Daniel definitely had not pouted. “A call from a particular someone.”

 

Sungwoon abashedly smiled at Daniel’s frank comment. “I’m sorry,” He apologised, “I wasn’t ready to press that button.” He could’ve lied and told him that he was busy. But Sungwoon didn’t. He had no idea why he didn’t. Ideally it would be better to just blurt an excuse but he didn’t want to do that, lying to this man.

 

Daniel was silent for a moment.

 

 

“Are you still there?” Sungwoon asked him. There was some distant noise to the call’s background. It seemed like Daniel was outside. “I can call you some other time if you’re busy…” He trailed, finger absentmindedly prodding his lips. He felt nervous. And he’d also understood if his delayed call was a turn-off for Daniel. Maybe his charms had worn off, who knows. Two weeks without anything—maybe Daniel had forgotten all about him (as if the man himself did not confess that he was waiting for Sungwoon’s call).

 

“Daniel-ssi?”

 

“Ah yes?”

 

“I said if you’re busy then I don’t want to take more of your time.”

 

“No!” Daniel suddenly raised his voice. Another pause, and he cleared his throat. “I mean, I was…surprised.”

 

“Of what?” Sungwoon asked. He exhaled, the night temperature chilling his bones.

 

“That you called…and for what you said…” Some rustle could be heard, boots walking on wooden planks, and then a door being closed. The silent phone call heightened up Sungwoon’s other senses. That, and he was dying out of embarrassment here. “Are you ready then?” Daniel asked, “Now that you’ve called me?”

 

It was Sungwoon’s turn to be still. Yes, he did say that but it was still strange, unfamiliar, for him to be acting this way. For saying this kind of stuffs. “Let me be honest here,” He whispered into the night, and Daniel’s shaky hum prodded him to just confess. “I’m…not good at this stuff. I’m a workaholic, I work shit hours for a week and I could barely walk right now. But…somehow I wanted to hear your voice.” _Fuck, there he goes, fucking shit up_ , Sungwoon mentally cursed himself.

 

“So…”

 

“I really…” Daniel sighed. Sungwoon’s steps halted. His house was just around the corner. Would it be wise for him to make a dash there and suffocate himself with a pillow? No, just knocking his head on the lamp post right now could do the trick to wake him up onto his senses.

 

“I really want to see you right now.”

 

“Right now?” Sungwoon croaked out nervously. He was looking like a soggy frog right now—he’d had two long hours surgery in the course of the day and he could barely lift his phone. Right now?

 

“Right now.” Daniel firmly answered. But not accompanied without a long sigh. “But I can’t.”

 

“Are you kidding me?” Sungwoon hissed at the phone. He couldn’t help it. No matter how sexy and right up his lane of preference Daniel was, Ha Sungwoon would not tolerate bullshit from stupid men, Kang here included.

 

“I can’t,” Daniel repeated. “I’m not at home now.”

 

Sungwoon blinked. “Not at home?”

 

“I’m…not in Korea. Um, well, South Korea.”

 

Sungwoon gasped. “You’re over at north?!”

 

“Shh,” Daniel quickly hushed him, “Not too loud. And why are you so surprised? I am a soldier, I can go out to the border.”

 

“What do you mean to the border? You’re _over_ the border right now.”

 

“In a matter of time, there would be no border.” Daniel mock-whispered as if it was his decision to make.

 

Sungwoon sighed. Wait. “So, you’re not in South? You’re practically overseas right now?”

 

“Yes?” Daniel answered warily.

 

“Shit, then that means that my call is considered an international call?”

 

“Hey, I can video chat you!” Daniel stressed out. “We have internet connection here…I think…if I walk around the base and try to get an established connection.”

 

“Well, it’s been a nice conversation, Daniel-ssi. I gotta go—”

 

“God, don’t you miss me?” Daniel cried into the call. “I had to work and at the same time waiting for you to call, for two long weeks. And when you called just now, you had no idea how…how… crazy my heart was beating. Had to run back to the barracks to get some space alone to talk to you. I can call you back, international call or not. No, I _am_ going to call you back.”

 

“Daniel-ssi,” Sungwoon laughed, “I was just joking… You don’t think my doctor pay check won’t be able to afford some international rates?”

 

“Really?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Are you sure?”

 

“I’m taking the long route back home tonight. Entertain me while I walk.”

 

👨⚕️

 

“Where have you been?” Seongwu asked, looking up from the mission file he’d been reading for the nth time. “You were gone for the past two hours.” And he hadn’t looked like he was from the training centre. When he noticed Daniel’s lovestruck face, Seongwu understood. “ _He_ finally called?”

 

“Finally,” Daniel echoed. “We…I…it’s so weird. It’s like…it’s so easy with him.”

 

“Are you calling your doctor easy?”

 

“No,” Daniel shook his head. It was light years away from being easy. “He’s…he… I don’t know. I’m falling hard for this man.”

 

“And you only met him once,” Seongwu reminded Daniel.

 

“Twice, actually.” Daniel rebutted. Although technically the meeting was quite one-sided (Sungwoon was hands deep inside a patient’s gut and Daniel had helped swerving the gurney faster into the emergency unit). “I don’t know… I just. I like him.”

 

“How nice,” Seongwu commented, “It’s romantic how you still find the time to love in this war.”

 

“It’s not a war.”

 

“No, it’s not, not yet,” Seongwu rephrased. “But here we are, strapped with our guns and knives. I don’t know if my mother would receive my dog tags soon.”

 

“Hyung…”

 

“I’m just saying, Niel-ah, love while you can. We don’t live forever. Especially us soldiers.”

👨⚕️

* * *

 

 


	2. two

🎖️

* * *

[4]

 

“Okay, what’s going on?” Jaehwan finally asked after a whole day of being weirded out by his colleague. One day Sungwoon was having the time of his life, acting like the happiest man alive and even not saying anything when one of his interns messed up his stitches on the practice hot dog. But today, he was sulking, pout pursed together and he kept on glancing at the watch. “You’re waiting for something?” Jaehwan asked, “Hyung?”

 

“Hm?” Sungwoon blinked slowly at him.

 

“You’re being awfully quiet today.”

 

“I’m just…” Sungwoon trailed. “I looked at the news today.”

 

“You’re watching the news? What’s going on with the world?” It was so annoying how Jaehwan looked genuinely concerned. It wasn’t like Sungwoon never watch the news—he just had no time to. That, and it bores him to death. One of his greatest lullabies, really, but can you blame him? Everything on the news is fabricated nowadays.

 

“Shut up,” The senior doctor sighed. “There’s a summit in North happening right now.”

 

“Um,” Jaehwan stared at him, “Yeah, that has been in talks for a few months now? And?”

 

“Isn’t it like…dangerous?”

 

“Well,” Jaehwan paused, suddenly thinking carefully of his response. “From what they’ve reported, everything is in positive view, the peace agreement. But… we never really know what’s happening behind closed doors. One of my friends are in the task force and they’re always sent on missions to be prepared of any emergency situations.”

 

“Does your friend’s name start with ‘Kang’ perhaps?”

 

“What? No, he’s an Ong.”

 

“A what? Hong?”

 

“It’s Ong,” Jaehwan insisted again. He tapped his finger frustratedly on a patient’s file that he was holding.

 

Sungwoon ‘ahh’-ed to himself, before another thought struck him, “What do they do in task force anyway?”

 

“Hyung doesn’t say much when we get together.” Jaehwan answered. “He tries to hide it but everyone somehow respects what he’s doing. He used to be throwing his body around for some laughter. But now, he throws his body around to protect the people. Can’t say that I’m not proud at him. But… I can’t imagine how his family would feel though, for their son who’s out there battling for his life every second.”

 

“Hm,” Sungwoon trailed again, mind spiralled into deeper thoughts.

 

“Dr. Ha?” Someone called him from a distance and the two characteristically went into their doctor mode. Sungwoon took the file from Jaehwan and started walking over to the nurse’s direction. They were heading to the patient’s wards. Jaehwan trailed behind him obediently, any suspicious thoughts of Sungwoon and his questions absent from his mind.

 

🎖️ 

 

And so. Another week passed by.

 

 

“Dr. Ha is being awfully sad these days,” One of the interns said to his fellow colleagues in the cafeteria. Everyone’s eyes fell on the particular doctor who was taking his time in front of the food tray. What he was contemplating on, nobody knew.

 

“Maybe he has a big case scheduled soon?”

 

“But I thought Dr. Yoon was handling the politician’s case?”

 

“Dr. Ha is always busy. He’s trying for the professor position, is he not? Truthfully, he’s amazing.” Hyunbin sounded hopelessly smitten by the senior doctor. His friends chuckled at his reaction. They expected it but nevertheless, Hyunbin’s little crush on Dr. Ha was too cute and amusing each time they witness it. They enjoy teasing their friend over it too.

 

“He wants to be a professor? I thought that it’s a given that Dr. Roh would get it? He’s viciously climbing his way up for that now. And he has the best interns under him.”

 

One of the interns, Kenta, scoffed and eyed his friend, Donghan, pointedly, “Yeah, keep being delusional. Nothing good will come over your way even if Dr. Roh would get the position.”

 

“What are you little beans talking about?” Dr. Roh Taehyun came and interrupted the conversation. Right at the perfect timing as if he was there from the very beginning. Although they hadn’t said anything that would get them in trouble, still, they were stunned and was reduced to icy stones after the little scare jump.

 

“Come on,” Taehyun nudged them, “What’s this about Dr. Ha that I’m hearing?”

 

“How on earth can you hear us?” Donghan asked, wincing at his other friends. They shared the same ‘we’re so fucked up’ expressions with one another.

 

“I have great ears when it comes to that little thing,” Taehyun answered as if their sizes were that much of a difference. “Anyway, what’s wrong with Sungwoonie? Do you guys know something that I don’t?” Taehyun then took a glance at Sungwoon—who was still pretty busy figuring his life choices in front of the food section. Fellow doctors and hospital staffs had bypassed the line because he was holding up the queue.

 

“He did look a bit down and distracted,” His friend noted.

 

“Right?” Kenta, the intern, perked up, “Maybe it’s because of,” He leaned closer, “ _The position_ , doctor?”

 

“The vacancy?” Taehyun looked at him specifically. He tilted his head and shrugged slightly, “Well, maybe… but Sungwoon’s too confident to be distracted by that kind of thing. He thinks that he could easily win over me, that bastard.”

 

“Talking about that,” Donghan pestered subtly, “How’s the talk for the new professor position, doctor? Did you hear anything from the board member? What did the director say?”

 

“The director’s a greasy bastard who adores Ha Sungwoon, that’s the tea. That’s the disgusting tea of the day!” Taehyun hissed, with a hand smacked to the table, and ended up startling the group of interns. “He’s all Dr. Ha this, Dr. Ha that, just because Sungwoon’s a pretty little shit.”

 

 

“Or maybe you’re just not _that_ good,” Sungwoon suddenly appeared from the side. Apparently, he was done with his little food crisis. Donghan, Kenta and Hyunbin, the interns, straightened up in their seats. Dr. Roh might’ve been their direct superior but Dr. Ha is another case of a terror. “And thank you for that little compliment. I’m flattered that you think that I’m cute,” He flashed a smile; sweetly (to the interns) and purposely annoying (to Taehyun)—well, depending on who you’re asking.

 

“Well, we’ll see who’d get chosen.” Taehyun scoffed, “When you’re busy thinking of which vegetables to take, I’m already done with my papers.”

 

“I’ve done more surgeries than you.”

 

“All thanks to the director, hello?”

 

 

“Wow, wow,” Jaehwan took off his glasses to peer closely at Sungwoon’s face, “What’s with that patch on your face?”

 

“Don’t ask about it.” Sungwoon shook his head. He had enough of things on his plate at the moment and swatted Jaehwan’s insistent gaze away. Sungwoon sighed, looking at the schedule board and noticed how every patient he had so far (on the list) was considered as top tier cases, in which the director himself had recommended him to be appointed as the main doctor in charge.

 

“Get ready,” Sungwoon said to Jaehwan after a few beats of silence, “I’m in the mood to cut some bodies open today.”

🎖️

* * *

 

[5]

 

“Where are you heading? Looking like that?” Unlike Daniel who was garbed handsomely in a casual clothing, the rest were still on their uniforms, just gotten back to their base after the gruelling mission.

 

North was…a challenge. They had encountered more than one ‘friendly meetings’ along the course of their stay at North. A lot of parties were still against this alliance and it was to be expected that they’d run into some troubles.

 

“Do you need to ask?”

 

Seongwu scoffed but patted his friend’s back as a support anyway. “You know that you still need to be back tonight, right? We will have an early meeting tomorrow morning and it’s your turn to present the report.” Talk about being supportive, Daniel thought.  

 

“I’m not going to stay outside,” Daniel rubbed his neck sheepishly. He put on his jacket, slid his wallet and phone in his pockets, and twirled in front of Seongwu. “How do I look?”

 

“Seriously?” Seongwu asked him.

 

“Yeah,” Daniel nodded, fixing his collar and stood straighter. He examined himself in front of the mirror once more. “Do I not look fine? Should I just wear my uniform?”

 

“Well if you ask me,” Jihoon interrupted from where he was draped on his side of the room, “I don’t think hyung would come back tonight.”

 

“Superb.” Daniel laughed and made his stance to leave the room.

 

“Well, just in case,” He turned around and showed his bestest good boy smile at Seongwu, “The report’s all done and it’s on my table. Any question and you may ask Woojin. He helped me with the report just now.”

 

“You have to be back tonight! Hey, Kang Daniel!”

 

🎖️

 

“Oh,” Daniel echoed slowly after listening to the news, “Dr. Ha is not stationed here anymore?”

 

Daniel was over at the counter, asking for Sungwoon’s whereabout in his special unit. Sohye smiled weakly at the man in front of her and repeated, “Yes, something hap—um—he’s been transferred to the Emergency Unit just a few days ago.”

 

“So,” Daniel bit his lip, “He’s probably busy at the Emergency Unit right now?” Gukmin Hospital oversees LOTS of emergency cases each night. It’s situated in the middle of the city so ideally (or not), that’s the worst unit a doctor could be posted to. Daniel wondered if he could even see a glimpse of Sungwoon tonight.

 

“As far as I know, hyung’s shift is almost over.”

 

Daniel turned to the person who was said that. He hadn’t noticed the man before, and turned to examine the man properly. Another doctor—Daniel assumed—with his head peering out from behind a computer and smiling pointedly at him. “Are you here to visit hyung?”

 

“Dr. Ha?” Daniel reconfirmed, “Then, yes.”

 

“ _Oh_ ,” The doctor nodded his head slowly. It was not a secret that he was trying to check Daniel out from head to toe. It was a good thing that Daniel had not worn his full uniform as he was fully aware that he was being scanned and scrutinized at the moment. “Do you have…like an appointment or something? A patient? No?” He appeared to know the answer but still, the man was prompting a clear response from him and the poor nurse.

 

Sohye sighed. “Dr. Kim, I think it’s best that we do not keep this gentleman here. What if he misses Dr. Ha? I mean, what if Dr. Ha’s shift ends soon and they miss each other—ah—” She was getting flustered over her own words, making both the doctor and Daniel simply staring at her.

 

“Then I’d take it as my responsibility to show you the way. I’m Dr. Kim Jaehwan anyway,” He offered a hand, “And you are?” When he noticed Sohye heaving another sigh beside him, Jaehwan nudged the nurse and winked. “Why do you sound so nervous, Nurse Kim? Are you and Dr. Ha keeping a secret from me?” And then he stared pointedly at Daniel.

 

Daniel accepted Jaehwan’s hand and shook it firmly twice. “I’m Kang Daniel…and I think I can manoeuvre myself fine to the Emergency Unit.”

 

“Oh, but hyung might not see you later. I’ll grant you a special pass to the place. I’ll come with.”

 

“It’s okay,” Daniel turned the suggestion down. He didn’t want to trespass without a solid reason to the packed place. And he didn’t know if Sungwoon would be delighted to see him or not. After all, almost two weeks had gone by since they last contacted each other. He didn’t want to intrude lest Sungwoon was busy and would not appreciate he distraction. After all, he does have Sungwoon’s number. “I’ll give him a call later.”

 

With that, he bowed to the two staffs and started marching downwards.

 

 

“He has hyung’s number?” Jaehwan pondered as Sohye slowly made herself busy again, “Who’s this Kang Daniel man? How come I’ve never heard of him before. How do you come to know him, Nurse Kim?”

 

🎖️

 

“A wrong diagnosis? What are you? An intern?!” There was a commotion at the resuscitation area. A patient was immediately taken to the operation table after his condition plummeted. There was blood, a lot of blood, and among the red, stood Ha Sungwoon. The head of the emergency medicine himself was there to scold the life out of Sungwoon.

 

“You’ve been too comfortable up there, haven’t you, Ha?” He scoffed, lines prominent with each stressed syllables of his words. “You’ve been treating only the VIPs so far and the luxury has made you ignorant to other’s advice?! When the patient’s wheezing and bleeding internally, you’re finally telling me that he has ulcer perforation?”

 

Sungwoon sighed inwardly. He had been eating at other personnel’s asses that the patient was to get immediate care but most of the staffs had been busy with the car accident patients that came through the door. When the patient was sent for an X-ray, it was not done properly so his exact conditions were not seen from the charts. That made the patient a lesser priority and he was sent back to the waiting list.

 

When Sungwoon was examining another case in the hybrid room, he was ambushed by another doctor that was sent to tend to the bleeding man. With all the miscommunications, the best person to blame was Sungwoon.

 

“Are you not going to say anything?!”

 

Sungwoon’s patience was seriously thinning out and this pointing finger habits had been testing his limits ever since he got transferred to the unit. “The director’s not going to be saving your ass anymore! So, don’t even think of trying to get out of this! Take responsibility for your action.”

 

“I have been asking for him to be examined carefully the moment I—”

 

“I said no excuses. Now get this place cleaned.”

 

“Oh sir, it’s alright,” One of the male nurses said, “Dr. Ha’s shift is ending soon and—”

 

“I won’t repeat myself. Or do you want me to send you to the director’s office once more?” He scoffed, “But you would like it, don’t you? It wasn’t a secret anyway.”

 

“Pardon me, sir?” Sungwoon looked straight into his superior’s eyes.

 

“Don’t give me that look,” The older man pulled his coat as if highlighting his higher rank to the younger doctor. “Do what you’re supposed to. You’ve done enough damage for the night.”

 

 

“You should leave, hyung,” Jinyoung said. “This is not your job after all.” The younger nurse urged Sungwoon to leave everything to him. Sungwoon could if he wanted to, after all, he knew that his boss’ words were mere empty barks. He was down here just to have a part in ruining Sungwoon’s day.

 

Ever since the incident in which Sungwoon had called out all the men who’d taken advantage of his lower position in the hospital last week, Sungwoon’s normal life had turned 180 degree. It wasn’t once or twice when they had asked Sungwoon to do their paperwork, _okay_ , that was the bare minimum that he needed to do to please them, but more thesis papers? Even covering for shifts and surgeries—in which they had claimed as their own?

 

They ostracized Sungwoon like a pack of hungry wolves during the staff meeting, leaving Sungwoon to vent everything out. More younger doctors, residents and interns alike started stating their opinions as well. Before the meeting even ended, Sungwoon was kicked out of the room and was reported instantly to the director.

 

Now _, the director_. Sungwoon didn’t want to talk about it. Not yet, at least.

 

 

“It’s alright, Jinyoung-ah,” Sungwoon said. “My shift’s ending anyway. It’s the least I could do to help.”

 

“But this is not your fault, hyung. In fact, it was thanks to you that the patient was diagnosed correctly. His charts were accurate and it made the work easier to prepare him for the surgery. It was unfortunate that he wasn’t taken to the table right away but… that would be another story to delve on.”

 

“Thank you, Jinyoung. If it’s not for you, I would not even stand a day working here.”

 

“Don’t mention it, hyung—oh wait, I think your phone is ringing?”

🎖️

* * *

[6]

 

“Oh wow,” Daniel exclaimed, accepting Sungwoon’s hug that almost engulfed his entire upper body. “Why, hello to you too, Sungwoon-ssi.” He almost toppled backwards from the force of Sungwoon launching himself into his embrace. Not that he minded it in the slightest.

 

“Ugh, drop the formality,” Sungwoon sighed, going on his tip toes and leaning closer to the warmth Daniel’s body had to offer. “When did you come back?”

 

“Just now,” Daniel answered him, caressing the back of Sungwoon’s head. The older man looked very tired and Daniel wanted to just hug him tightly to get rid of his exhaustion. In a sense, it was healing for himself. “I came straight from the base after I’m done with my work.”

 

Sungwoon pulled away and looked at Daniel, “Ah, sorry,” He took off his hands, “You must’ve been feeling very tired from the journey alone, not to mention the entire time you spent there.”

 

“Nah,” Daniel smiled, shaking his head. He pulled Sungwoon’s hand and clasped it firmly. When Sungwoon nodded as a form of consent, Daniel gave his hand a light squeeze. “Shall we go?” He asked him. “Let’s have a quick bite somewhere. I’m hungry.”

 

“Are you allowed to spend time outside? Don’t you have, like, a curfew or something?”

 

“I do,” Daniel nodded, “Let’s just say…I have some reliable friends.”

 

Sungwoon eyed him, “You’re not going to be misusing your power, are you? Because if you’re planning to do so, I will drop you right here, right now and go back to my home immediately.”

 

“I’ll go back to the base, don’t worry. I’ll just ask them to cover for the roll call if I get back later than I’m supposed to. Anyway,” He nudged the doctor with his wide shoulder, “Aren’t you being too much? I just want to spend more time with you. Don’t try to get rid of me that easily, please.”

 

“I’m not,” Sungwoon pouted. He let Daniel passed through the door first and followed behind him swiftly, with their hands still intertwined. “It’s just that I had to deal with power abuse far too much here that if I see one case happening right now, I will just flip everything.”

 

“Hm,” Daniel thought out loud, “Does this have anything to do with you being transferred to another unit?”

 

Sungwoon shook his head, “Believe it or not, this moment is the happiest I’ve been this past week.”

 

Although Daniel was pleased with the underlying meaning behind those words, he couldn’t help but to address the other important matter that Sungwoon was implying. “Did you get into trouble? What happened?” Daniel noticed that Sungwoon began to prod his lip with his free fingers. He took his hand off from peeling his own skin and halted to a stop.

 

“You can’t tell me yet?”

 

“It’s complicated,” Sungwoon answered, “And it’s nothing compared to what you’re dealing right now.”

 

“We all have our own problems,” Daniel said, “But I’m not going to consider yours small, if that’s what you’re saying. You can talk to me.” When Sungwoon grew quieter in that span of a moment, Daniel continued, “You’re not ready yet?” And when Sungwoon shook his head as an answer, Daniel simply nodded, “It’s alright. I’ll wait.”

 

 

 _‘This was so out of character of me,’_ Sungwoon thought and he didn’t know if he should be feeling happy about it. He was practically leaping hundreds of miles with where this relationship(?) was heading right now. Even in the impulsiveness of his action when he saw Daniel earlier, the fact that he didn’t want to let go of his hand was wreaking havoc in Sungwoon’s mind as well.

 

“Where do you want to eat?” Daniel asked him. “I didn’t bring a car here, so, we can walk to the food restaurant? I hope you don’t mind?”

 

“Are you okay with take-outs?” Sungwoon asked. He didn’t care. Impulsive or thoughtless, impromptu or not, he wanted nothing else but Daniel’s comforting presence close to him. “Do you want to go back to my place?”

 

🎖️

 

Now this is where it got out of control.

 

Sungwoon wasn’t supposed to fall for this man. They basically started as mere strangers. He wasn’t the type to be smitten with just a pickup line or two, no, Sungwoon works more complicated than that. He treasures his heart the most, and has forever carved himself in his own safe zone of working, working, and working. He’d take time to talk and get meals with his friends, visit his grandparents and father back at home, but most of his time? The hospital would be where he’d end up at.

 

 

“Is this okay?” Daniel asked as if he needed any more confirmation coming from a very willing Sungwoon. The doctor was pliant on his bed, fingers stretching the fabric of his bedsheet, feet curled into the bed, as Daniel worked his fingers inside his hole.

 

The soldier was not doing any better—sweats rolled off his body as he tried to kiss as much part of Sungwoon’s body that he could reach. Everything was so exhilaratingly sensual—Sungwoon’s heavy gaze on him, his moans, the little push he gave to encourage Daniel to touch more of himself. He’s willing. He’s prepared to give everything to this man. And Daniel could never say no to him. Right from the start, he could already feel it.

 

“Kiss me,” Sungwoon pulled him closer, “Just kiss me.”

 

And kissed him Daniel did. It was long and passionate, with both men pouring their entire hearts into that one kiss. Tongue on tongue, little nibbles on lips, detaching and lapping onto Sungwoon’s skin next, Daniel took no hesitation to map his skin with his trace.

 

“Are you ready?” He asked again.

 

“ _Hngh_ ,” Sungwoon replied, head filled solely with lust and pleasure. When Daniel took more time just asking for reassurance and how Sungwoon was feeling, he pulled the younger man into a hug before pushing him to lie flat on the bed. “I’ll take in charge then,” He said and lowered himself onto Daniel.

 

 

And that was how it began.

 

However, the sad thing was—the moment Sungwoon opened his eyes the very next morning, Kang Daniel was nowhere to be found.

 

He vaguely remembered being awakened by Daniel’s rustling the previous night (or early morning) and could faintly felt the dip of his weight on the bed. A touch of a warm hand on his bare body, waking him up. “Hm?” Sungwoon hummed uncommittedly, deeply laced with sleep.

 

“I’m sorry,” Daniel whispered into the night. A sleepy and sated Sungwoon could barely opened his eyes, let alone responding to Daniel’s light jostle. Daniel was already dressed and ready to go back to the military base, but of course, Sungwoon wouldn’t have any idea about it.

 

Daniel pressed a kiss on Sungwoon’s forehead and also his lips.

 

“Stay,” Sungwoon mumbled, “W… you goin?”

 

“I have to go back now. Something came up.” Daniel explained. He knew the extent of how much information Sungwoon could process in his sleeping state but he wanted to let him know. “The truck’s waiting outside for me now.”

 

“Out?” Sungwoon asked again. “Hm, don’t go.”

 

“Baby, I’m sorry,” Daniel kissed Sungwoon again. “I promise I’ll be back soon.”

 

Before he left, Daniel left a note on the nightstand to explain where he was going so that Sungwoon wouldn’t think that he was trying to run away from the situation. Daniel would never. What he wanted the most at the moment was to stay there with Sungwoon and waking up next to him. But of course, you could never get everything you wished for.

 

Along with the note, Daniel left something else—a bracelet. It was a gift from his mother when he entered the military, with the hope that he’d have something to remember her by when he’s all away in his missions. It seemed fitting that Daniel would give it to Sungwoon. This time, sensing the urgency of the situation, Daniel didn’t know when he’d be back home.

 

“Take care,” He said again, before standing up and getting ready for his battle.

🎖️

* * *

 


	3. three

👨⚕️

* * *

[7]

 

Before you know it—eight months had passed. Eight months without any contact, any news, anything.

 

Sungwoon knew he shouldn’t be holding on onto something like this—this uncertain and going-nowhere relationship. It wasn’t even a real relationship when you thought of everything rationally. They met at his workplace, had flirted a bit, talked on the phone briefly, and for one night, had fucked each other. That was it. Nothing else.

 

Sungwoon had no idea why he was so affected by Daniel’s disappearance when he knew little to none about the man. Judging from the interaction they had as stated previously, sure, they had talked and flirted with each other intensely. And true, somehow, they felt comfortable and compatible with one another. However, it wasn’t like this had never happened before.

 

“Ugh whatever,” Sungwoon grunted to himself.

 

“What’s wrong, hyung?” Jinyoung asked. “Does the food taste bad today?”

 

But before Sungwoon could reply the nurse, they heard some commotion from one direction. It was the board members plus the director himself, and they had actually come down to the cafeteria? _Unbelievable_. Everyone’s attention fell on them and the staffs all halted their other activities. It must’ve been serious for the director himself to go down to the ‘commoner’s area’.

 

“I know that not everyone is here,” He started, “But I have an important announcement to make. I think that it’s only fair if I present the whole plan to everyone face to face.”

 

“Seems like it’s something serious,” Jinyoung whispered. Sungwoon hummed back.

 

“As you all know, the hospital’s been affiliated to the United Nation’s new humanitarian project in Urk a few dates back. I’m delighted to announce that we’ll be sending in a few volunteers to help at the new Medic Cube built there.” Sungwoon sighed, _handpicked volunteers_ he meant, and continued scooping rice into his mouth. He had no intention to sign up to the damn thing and he knew well that no sane person would voluntarily go for it.

 

“Seems interesting,” Jinyoung nudged Sungwoon.

 

“What are you talking about? That’d be a month away from civilization, you fool.” Sungwoon made an act to shudder.

 

“Put your bias aside, hyungnim,” Jinyoung interjected, “The UN” s station in the country has been equipped with electricity and water supply. Also, the Medic Cube is there. Don’t you want to see how amazing it is in real life?” Sungwoon honestly had enough of the Medic Cube—on paper, it was someone’s else idea and plan but behind closed doors, Sungwoon had dealt with days of sleepless nights and tons of coffee to finish the project.

 

The director was explaining about special allowance and that made Jinyoung lightened up even more. It was probably due to his young age, Sungwoon credited, that he was so excited about being sent to a foreign country. Cranky and bitter as he was being, Sungwoon just sighed when Jinyoung proposed his participation in the project.

 

“Wow, are you serious?” Dr. Yoon Jisung, who’d been busy stuffing his face with food up until now, commented. Jinyoung even beamed at him and the two senior physicians shared a look and cringed. They would never send their names on their own accounts to this challenge. Sungwoon had done his part when he worked with the MSF two years ago. He had learned a lot during his time volunteering but it came to point where he’d rather worked with the bustling Emergency Unit than living that life.

 

“For this project,” The director continued, “We’ll be needing someone who’s experienced enough to lead the team.”

 

“I guess that it’s my cue to flee,” Sungwoon said, standing up and holding his tray securely in his hands.

 

“Oh, Dr. Ha, you’re standing?”

 

“Um, no, sir,” Sungwoon bowed, “I was just trying to return my tray.” He responded, which created a boisterous laughter among the staff. It wasn’t the first time that Sungwoon had gone head to head with the man. The first case was what resulted in his ‘exile’ to the Emergency Unit so he was really in a tight spot here.

 

“Dr. Ha, you’ve been serving alongside the MSF and the military, right? I think you’re the perfect man for this. Does anyone else have any other suggestions?” Sungwoon looked around but no one seemed to be willing to butt in. Jinyoung even looked excited to be working alongside Sungwoon in Urk. Jaehwan, whom Sungwoon made eye contact with (he was about to walk into the cafeteria but stopped at the entrance when the director announced the news) even made a U-turn back to where he was coming from.

 

“Jisung hyung?” Sungwoon even hissed at his friend, but to no avail, the doctor was already back to his meal.

 

“Okay, it’s decided then! You leave with your own selected team next week.”

 

“Shit,” Jisung cursed from the side as Sungwoon plopped back down to his seat with a desolated sigh.  

 

👨⚕️ 

 

Meanwhile in Urk, a troop of soldiers were sweeping the hillside for explosives. The sound of the metal machine beeping was their only source of noise. There were also chatters of some local children playing around the area but it was distant enough not to distract them.  

 

Still on deployment, Seongwu rallied up to Daniel and stopped him. “Did you hear the news?” He asked.

 

“What news?” Daniel asked back.

 

“A team from Gukmin Hospital is going to come to the base next week.” Seongwu declared.

 

Daniel paused his shovelling and looked at his colleague. He nodded, “Yeah, I knew about it. The HQ informed me about that when I went over to report there last week. There’d be around six, seven of them? Only one female, I’m sorry, Sergeant Major Ong.”

 

“Only one?” Seongwu echoed and then puffed, “Well, it’s okay. Maybe there would be some cute ones among the other six?”

 

“No, there wouldn’t be.” Daniel quickly shot him down. “Besides, they would be here for only a month. What will you get from that short amount of time?”

 

“Oh, why do you sound sulky?” Seongwu leaned in. Looking at how Daniel was trying to avoid his eyes, Seongwu came to a conclusion and gasped out loud. “Is your pretty doctor going to be around too?”

 

Daniel figured that it would be pointless for him to lie about it. “Yeah, I checked the list. His name is there.” And clipped together with the list was their profiles. There would be three doctors and four nurses coming. Also, Daniel had learned more about Sungwoon in the little additional notes that came with the names. His birthday, his background, his past workplaces… it was creepy, he was aware of it. But the last eight months was torture for him.

 

“Does he know that you’d be here?”

 

“He probably doesn’t.” Daniel replied.

 

“It must’ve been fated then,” Seongwu commented.

 

Daniel sighed, “It was just a passing coincidence. He must’ve hated me by now. Or worse, he might not even remember me.” Although Daniel had left him a special parting gift that night, in hope that even in his darkest times, he’d never forget him, it was probably better if he did. It’d save them from any more complications.

 

“We’ll see how it goes next week.” His friend consoled him.

👨⚕️

* * *

[8]

 

“Fuck that bastard!” Sungwoon cursed at the wind. The nature had its little payback when the wind blew harder and caused their luggage to roll away. The small team chased after their bags and tried keeping their sunhats attached to their heads. Daehwi, the youngest assemble of the team, a young refreshing male nurse, was trying his best to keep his cardigan from flapping towards Sungwoon’s face and further agitating him.

 

Jisung took pity in the nurse and pulled him away before Sungwoon could bite his head off. They were waiting for the military helicopter to bring them to their base after reporting at the headquarter in another part of the place. If they were to travel by land, it would take them a few hours at least so flying would be the best transportation option.

 

While tanning under the hot sun from their waiting game, Jisung received a call from the hospital. “Oh, sir,” He greeted, “Yes, we’ve arrived safely. The kids were all okay.” He then eyed Sungwoon who was pretending not to hear the conversation, “Oh? You called me because Dr. Ha is not answering his phone?” Jisung echoed back for everyone to hear while pestering Sungwoon non-verbally to check his phone. “You’ve called him more than five times?”

 

With that, Sungwoon absent-mindedly checked his phone and cleared the notifications. He even turned his phone off and pocketed it back inside his pants. Jisung gave him a light smack in the shoulder for that. Team leader or not, Jisung would still be mad at him if the director continued to harass Jisung for the neglect he received from Sungwoon.

 

“He’s alright, sir,” Jisung said to the phone, “A bit grumpy and gloomy, but alright nevertheless. Oh, you want to talk to him?” Before Sungwoon could say no, Jisung thrusted his phone to his ear and threatened him with his eyes to just accept the call.

 

“ _Dr. Ha_?” The voice from the phone called and Sungwoon merely grunted a small ‘yes’ as a reply. “ _It’s you, Sungwoonie?_ ” He trailed.

 

Sungwoon rolled his eyes at the director’s call. “What do you want, sir? Our ride will come soon and it will be impossible to speak through the phone. I will send a proper email report later once we’ve arrived at the Medic Cube, so if you’d excuse me—”

 

“ _Now, come on Sungwoonie_ ,” He said, “ _If you’re having such a hard time there, I can set something up to bring you back home. Just say the words, and I will do it for you. I have a lot of excuses to bring you back to Korea after all_.”

 

“No, it’s fine sir.” Sungwoon dismissed him, “A month away from that place could do me good anyway.”

 

Sungwoon’s blunt remarks caused a few controversial gapes to escape his fellow colleagues. Not to mention, most of them were still young and new in their profession. They probably thought that Sungwoon was being a shit to their superior. But in his defence, the director deserved the bullshit handed to him.

 

“ _Honest as always, huh, Sungwoon_ ,” He chuckled. “ _Know that it’s in my very best interest to take care of you. After all, you do know how I feel right._ ” The moment he said that, Sungwoon put away the phone from his ear and set the call on speaker mode. Purposely, he even increased the call’s volume.

 

“Of course, I know, sir,” Sungwoon replied, “I know _very_ well. I am also aware that due to your most favourable fondness towards me, I was sent to the Emergency Unit although the rotation is not up yet.” Sungwoon growled lowly under his breath.

 

“ _Now, Sungwoonie_ ,” The director called again. “ _If you change your mind, you can tell me. I will do my very best to help you_.”

 

‘Sungwoonie?’ Jaehwan mouthed to Jisung and was received with the similar shocked expressions. In fact, everyone in the team looked at each other in surprise when they heard that.

 

“Forget it. I knew that something was wrong since you brought me to the hotel but I didn’t know that you were this cowardly. Let me say this to you, with my fame and reputation in the medical world, you must think that I’m that desperate to open my own hospital. But guess what? The moment I come back from this place, I will throw my resignation later at your face. Mark your calendar, sir.” With that, he hung up on the call.

 

Sungwoon huffed loudly, before handing Jisung his phone back. When he turned around, he saw the various expressions his team members had. “You guys heard that, right? That is the reason why I’m here. In fact, that was the reason why I was transferred instantly to the Emergency Unit. That had been a warning but… I don’t know. I don’t care anymore. That bastard of a boss can eat his own crap.”

 

“Oh, Sungwoonie,” Jisung called, rubbing his colleague’s arm in sympathy, “I’m sorry to hear that.”

 

“It’s okay,” Sungwoon said, smiling weakly, “Let me remind you,” He turned to the younger ones, “No matter how promising what they offer you, never give in to them. These people high up there, they don’t care about us. They only want two things in life, pleasure and money. Love? Please, that’s all an excuse to get you on their beds.”

 

Before the rest could respond to his life lesson, the wheezes of the helicopter blades could be heard from a distance. “Oh,” Sungwoon looked up at the sky, “The UN soldiers must be here. Is everyone ready?”

 

 

The helicopter was huge, much bigger than the ones used to transport patients in their hospital. The wind from the plane caused Daehwi’s cardigan to go haywire again as it flapped and hit Sungwoon’s face. However, Sungwoon was too busy being amazed at the helicopter to even swat the fabric away from his face. After it came to a complete stop on the ground, a few men in uniform stepped out.

 

 

If you asked Sungwoon, he’d tell you that his vision wasn’t that perfect. He still relies on his glasses, and would still squint to even read the font on his phone.

 

However, the moment the soldiers started walking towards them, he could recognise _him_ right away.

 

 

The last time Sungwoon had seen him, they were on his bed—legs tangled together, hands roaming to touch and have a feel of their warmth. He had kissed him passionately, blinding him of his other senses, numbing him of the rest of his feelings, reducing him to memorising him and only him.

 

That night was the only thing Sungwoon could ever remember for months.

 

He said he’d be back. Soon. Looking at the piece of note that he had left Sungwoon, the doctor thought that he would return in a few hours. Or days, if he was being realistic (judging at how Daniel also mentioned in the note that he’d be away for his job). But days turned to weeks, and weeks became months. His calls did not get through, text messages were left unread.

 

 _Nothing_.

 

When Sungwoon opened his eyes that one morning, Kang Daniel had disappeared. What was left of him was a piece of a post-it and a bracelet.

 

👨⚕️

 

“Welcome to Urk,” Daniel said to the team. They bowed at him (sans Sungwoon who was too shock to even react. And the soldier didn’t even give any recognition that he’d known him personally. _Ouch_. Instead, he continued to introduce himself to the hospital staffs.

 

“I’m Captain Kang Daniel and I’m from the Alpha Team. We’re a special force team from Korea, stationed and serving here in Urk. We work with soldiers from other countries too, but your team will be working at the Medic Cube which has been placed at our base.”

 

“Hyung?” Jaehwan whispered in Sungwoon’s ears, alerting him from his trance. He jumped at Jaehwan’s sudden blow of air and looked at his colleague. Jaehwan continued, “Isn’t that—”

 

“What are you saying?” Sungwoon said and glared subtly at the younger doctor. Coming back to his sense, Sungwoon turned to look at Daniel and addressed him properly. Daniel hadn’t changed, he still looked the same—as handsome as he’s always been—and Sungwoon tried to bite back any emotions that almost escaped him.

 

“I’m Team Leader Ha Sungwoon and these are my team members. Thank you for having us,” He said, while bowing. This prompted the rest of his staff members to bow once more at the soldiers.

 

“Sir, here,” One of the other soldiers, Jihoon (Sungwoon saw his stitched tags on his uniform), handed something to the captain.

 

“You can only bring minimal stuff inside the helicopter. The rest of your luggage need to be sent to our base by the truck. It would take a few hours to reach there by land.” The staff members were surprised, couldn’t help but to show their dissatisfaction of having to leave some of their stuffs behind.

 

Sungwoon sighed but took the bags from Daniel’s hand nevertheless. “Whether you like it or not, this is how it works in the military. Bring only the things you need with you. Don’t bother with your skin products and shirts, we’re going to work right away once we arrive.”

 

“Oh,” Someone interjected from the back, “We did prepare you something when you get to our base.”

 

“Really?” Kuanlin, one of the newer staffs said, perking up, “What is it?”

 

“Lin-ah,” Jisung held the younger down by the back of his shirt, “Let’s behave. This is a foreign country.”

 

“Even Korea’s a foreign country for me, hyung. What are you talking about?” Kuanlin asked, chuckling when Jisung seemed to realise that he had mistook Kuanlin for a local Korean again.

 

 

“It’s nothing much,” Daniel explained, “We bought some _hanwoo_ to share with everyone. The helicopter will be leaving in 10 minutes, precisely at 3:22 pm.” He said while looking at his watch. “You can hand in your luggage to Staff Sergeant Kim here.”

 

Sungwoon looked at the solder and exclaimed, “Wow, you’re tall.”

 

“Seokwoo,” Daniel called before the soldier, Seokwoo apparently, could give any response to Sungwoon. “Let’s hurry up? It’s hot and the team must’ve been uncomfortable waiting under the sun.”

 

“Oh, yes, sir.” The soldier replied.

 

 _What was that all about_ , Sungwoon thought. Instead of paying any more attention to Daniel, he spun around to work on his bag.

 

👨⚕️

 

“My Sergeant Major was the one who prepared this.” Daniel said to the team. When they arrived at the military base, they were welcomed by fake leis presented by soldiers. Specifically, they showered Sejeong, the only female staff, with more attention and it was understandable. But still, Sungwoon did not fail to remind Sejeong to be careful and to tell him if something bothers her.

 

“It’s alright, hyung,” She smiled and accepted another serving of Korean beef meat on her bowl, again, not minding traditional greeting titles. Little did they know, Sungwoon thought, that Sejeong could easily pass with a hungry soldier’s appetite.

 

 

“Seongwu hyung!” Jaehwan suddenly called. The man he was calling turned around and boy, Sungwoon thought, _are all soldiers in the special force handsome_? Apparently, the soldier, Jaehwan’s close hyung, was stationed here in Urk as well, with this…fellow here.

 

“Is the food to your liking?” Daniel asked, finally giving Sungwoon a smile. As if he didn’t pretend not to know Sungwoon at all just a few moments ago. “Sungwoon?” He called again when the doctor remained quiet and focused on his food.

 

“Our Team Leader is a bit exhausted,” Jinyoung interrupted from where he was sitting across the two. “He came straight to the airport after working two night-shifts in a row in the Emergency Unit.”

 

“The Emergency Unit? You’re still stationed there, Sungwoon?” Daniel asked.

 

“Sungwoon?” The doctor looked at him sharply. “ _Sungwoon_?” Really?

 

“Sungwoon- _ssi_?” Daniel tried again. When he was met with Sungwoon’s unimpressed look (the ones that made his younger colleagues to recoil in fear), Daniel rephrased again, “I’m sorry, Dr. Ha?”

 

“Are you seriously fucking with me?” Sungwoon asked. Daniel stared back at him with a bewildered expression. He had not seen Sungwoon in months and although he’d expected something along the lines of a few curse words, he did not imagine that he’d do it in front of the crowd. Or maybe was the whole thing Daniel’s fault that he had approached and initiated the conversation here?

 

Sungwoon got up from his seat and left the dining area.

 

 

“What did you do this time?” Seongwu asked him.

 

“Ugh,” Daniel sighed and palmed his head frustratedly, “Don’t ask, please.”

👨⚕️

* * *

 

[9]

 

“The Medic Cube is well equipped,” Kuanlin commented. The staffs were in the medical centre, sorting and organising the shelves. The youngest in the group was currently arranging the pharmaceutical products and logging them in the charts. “This is all thanks to Sungwoon hyung.” He said, smiling at their team leader. “I feel so secure here, having to work alongside hyung who’s experienced and skilful.”

 

Sungwoon looked up at the intern physician and smiled. “Yeah, Kuanlin-ah, but don’t say things like this when we get back to the hospital. You and I will be both in trouble.”

 

“Why is that, hyung?” He asked, a small frown evident on his pale face. He looked like an upset chick and Jaehwan reached up to pinch Kuanlin’s cheeks, simply just because. All the hyungs adore him a lot. That was one of the reasons why Sungwoon was more willing to go here, after seeing Jinyoung persuading his other friends to volunteer for the project as well.

 

“Well,” Sungwoon pursed his lips, thinking of the simplest way to explain this to Kuanlin. “It’s stupid and unfair, but, under the official paper, the Medic Cube isn’t initiated by me. I only helped Professor Lee to…well…”

 

“To basically do everything for him,” Jisung finished off Sungwoon’s words. “Everyone knows about it, Kuanlin-ah. But it’s best not to mention this in front of the higher ups. They become more defensive and mean when people discover how useless they really are.”

 

“Come on, hyung,” Sungwoon nudged his older friend, “Useless would be a stretch. They are stinky and manipulative but they do come in handy sometimes.”

 

“Yeah, for decoration is it?” Jisung scoffed, “Even for decoration purposes, I wouldn’t want to keep any of them in my office. I’m so glad that our team is like this,” He gestured to the rest of his colleagues inside the centre, “I mean, I did resent you for choosing me to be in your team to come here, but looking at the bright side, I will think of it as a mini vacation. I mean, we get to enjoy this beautiful scenery, experience new things and—”

 

A loud explosive sound ceased Jisung from finishing his sentence.

 

“What the fuck was that?” He shrieked, cradling Jinyoung and Daehwi tight under his arms. They had a few moments of silence, surprised and taken aback by the loud noise. It sounded like a gun being fired. For some of the younger volunteers who’d never even been to the military, they were more shaken up by the sound.

 

“I’ll go and check,” Sungwoon said, leaving the chart he was holding on the table.

 

But before he could get to the door, Daniel entered through the entrance. “What happened?” Sungwoon asked. When he saw Daniel’s condition—face smudged with dust and dirt, one arm scraped and bleeding, Sungwoon forgot his supposed anger and quickly inspected Daniel’s body. “What’s wrong? Did something happen?”

 

Daniel just let the doctor touched him, all words dead on his mouth when he saw how worried Sungwoon was. Sungwoon moved him to the side, ordered someone to get water, antibiotic ointment and a gauze pad. He sat the soldier down and quickly cleaned his wound.

 

Somehow, it reminded Daniel of their first meeting. He remembered being enamoured, even by merely looking at his serious face and the crown of his head. Back then, almost a year ago, Sungwoon had been in a similar position, inspecting the gunshot wound on the side of Daniel’s hip carefully.

 

“I don’t see any muscle or fat, so you won’t need any stitches. But you need to keep pressurising the wound to stop the bleeding.”

 

As Sungwoon treated Daniel’s wounds personally, the rest went back to their jobs. But not without sharing a look or two among each other.

 

“It sounded serious.” Jisung asked. “What happened?”

 

“Ah, _that_ ,” Daniel trailed, while not turning his head away from Sungwoon’s face. “One of the men’s firearm malfunctioned while he was testing it. So, they planned to fire the baby in the range but the barrel got stuck. I had to chuck the damn thing out of his hand so, that explained this.”

 

“That was fast,” Jaehwan commented, “You ran all the way here after the gunfire?”

 

Sungwoon’s neutral face morphed into a frown. He squinted his eyes as if to check whether Daniel was lying about the incident. “Ah,” Daniel perked up, finally looking away. He shook his head at Jaehwan, “No, um, Sergeant Major Ong urged me to get treatment so… yeah.” He laughed weakly, “I mean, I’m a soldier. I need to keep my body healthy and unscathed, right?”

 

“I see,” Jisung nodded his head. “Let the poor soldier get his treatment, Jaehwan, come on,” The older man dragged his friend to join Sejeong who was cleaning and sterilising the equipment outside the centre.

 

 

When Sungwoon deemed that the others were far enough, he pushed the pad further onto Daniel’s wound.

 

“Ah!” Daniel cried in pain, “What was that for?”

 

“Did you lie again?” Sungwoon asked, “To me?”

 

“What? No? A real gun was misfired. Well, not misfired but…” He looked at Sungwoon and shrugged, “You wouldn’t know. Stuff like that do happen around here.”

 

“What do you mean by that? I wouldn’t know? For your information, I had served in the military, okay?” And Sungwoon lifted his hand hastily, making the sudden movement painful for Daniel’s wound. Hearing the soldier’s ‘ouch’, Sungwoon looked at his arm.

 

“I’m fine,” Daniel reassured, “I’ve been through worse here.” He smiled.

 

Sungwoon’s eyes met his. Daniel really had not change. In the span of his absence, not once did Sungwoon ever rid of him from his memories. He looked so young here, when he smiled oh so brightly like that—barely older than a few of Sungwoon’s colleagues.

 

Sungwoon was saying this because usually, he’d look so— _different_. Sungwoon wasn’t trying to discredit the hospital staffs, but it was a fact that they had things easy. They went through a hell from medical school and the student debt was life-sucking, but that was the worst thing they deal with. And of course, added with work stress and barely enough sleeping hours, but the people here in military, they go through all of that too. And more.

 

Maybe things just couldn’t (or wouldn’t) work out back then, all of those months. Sungwoon had spent his time hating Daniel for leaving him hanging, without any certainties and answers. Even to the moment they were ‘reunited’, Sungwoon still held that grudge. But realistically speaking, the perfect timing would not come that easily, Sungwoon admitted.

 

Back then, had they really hit well, their relationship might not last when Sungwoon could not understand the responsibilities and the accountabilities Daniel had to shoulder. He turned his ego off for a moment and reflected on himself—was it Daniel’s fault that he’s a soldier? Hell on earth might be worse for him compared to Sungwoon’s life back in Korea. Was he reasonable for being mad at Daniel?

 

Noticing Sungwoon’s stare, Daniel said, “I’m really okay.” He didn’t like to see that kind of expression on Sungwoon’s face. Sungwoon held back his words and began cleaning the equipment. It was Daniel’s turn to stare at him. _He looks as pretty as ever_ , Daniel thought, eyes casted downwards to his neck…he wavered. The last time he’d seen Sungwoon this close, he was buried deep inside him.

 

Daniel cleared his throat and looked away.

 

“You may leave now,” Sungwoon said, being the first one to stand and try to make his exit. Something felt wrong, although he didn’t know what it was. His grip was white as he held the metal tray inflexibly in his hands.

 

“Dr. Ha,” Daniel called out, hand outstretched to grab Sungwoon’s wrist. “Are you okay?”

 

“Look—” Sungwoon tried to shake his grip off of him, “Can you please pretend that you don’t know me?”

 

“Excuse me?”

 

“I will pretend that I do not know you. So, don’t look at me like that.”

 

Daniel’s hand turned cold on Sungwoon’s skin, figuratively. It was subtle but Sungwoon could feel his grip getting firmer. “How do I look at you?” He asked, giving the same look Sungwoon warned him not to.

 

Sungwoon faltered. After a few beats, he said, “Like you want to eat me.”  

👨⚕️

* * *

 


	4. four

🚁

* * *

[10]

 

The next day started normally, as normal as the life in Urk granted them.

 

On the bed next to his, Jaehwan was trying to wake himself up—body and eyes both heavy, struggling to function in the wee hour of the morning. “Why is it so early? What are we doing up so early?” He cried into his pillow.

 

Sungwoon looked at him and sighed, “You and Jisung hyung need to go to the town to get some things,” He reminded his colleague.

 

“Why didn’t we bring everything from South Korea? Whose money are we going to use?” For someone who was still sleepy, his words were quite coherent. Sungwoon didn’t want to wake up too—it was too early. But the morning alarm had sounded (although it was for the soldiers) and it was impossible for him to sleep back through it.

 

Life had started here in the military base. Sungwoon could faintly hear the thumps of their early march. He checked his phone and looked at the time—4:07 am. He got up, dragged himself out of the bed, and patted Jaehwan’s wriggling butt under the cover. “Come on, Jaehwan-ah,” He called, “You and Jisung hyung need to get to the town. Hyung is already preparing,” And true, cue Jisung’s small movement in the corner, trying to change his clothes without bumping onto anything. “One of the soldiers will be driving you there.”

 

Jaehwan groaned and sat on his bed. “I’m ready,” He scratched his cheek.

 

“Are you not going to at least brush your teeth?” Jisung asked him.

 

“I’m not going to talk, don’t worry, hyung.” Jaehwan smiled, deciding to leave the talking to the eldest. Jisung sighed but went back to his morning routine anyway. It was futile to be arguing with Jaehwan for now.

 

A greeting on the tent entrance suddenly alerted them. “Good morning,” The formal rigid words were that of a soldier. “I’m here to escort the team to the town. Is everyone ready?”

 

“Go and brush your teeth,” Jisung pushed Jaehwan to the backdoor. “Ah, yes,” Jisung answered the greeting, “You may come in.”

 

It was the young and attractive soldier, the very tall one. “Oh, Staff Sergeant Kim,” Sungwoon greeted, perking up from where he was observing Jisung and Jaehwan. His face and hair must had been a sight to witness but he didn’t care.

 

“Good morning, Team Leader Ha.” The soldier bowed politely. To say that Sungwoon was impressed would be a given. Early dawn or not, he knew he could trust his eyes to appreciate the beauty that life has to offer. Well in this case, it came in the form of Staff Sergeant Kim’s strong build and handsome face—what a way to start your morning, really.

 

“Are you coming with?” The soldier asked, Seokwoo, his mind reminded him.

 

“Oh, no,” Sungwoon shook his head. “I need to man the Medic Cube. We’re going to do some health-checking today. I guess you won’t join us?”

 

“Well,” Seokwoo smiled, “If we make it by afternoon, I’ll drop by the Medic Cube.”

 

“Wow, and voluntarily sign yourself to be prod around by Dr. Ha here?” Jisung joked, giving Sungwoon a knowing look. He knew a flirting game when he sees one. Sungwoon scoffed at Jisung’s gaze and rolled his eyes. Jisung turned to the soldier again, “It hurts even more when Dr. Ha draws the blood. He likes seeing pain in other people.”

 

“I do not!” Sungwoon laughed.

 

“Well, what’s a little pain going to cause me?” Seokwoo joked back. “If we’ll be running late today. I’ll just join in for the next session.”

 

“Great, you can be the first one,” Sungwoon smiled, “I’ll reserve a spot for you.”

 

 

“Wow, you’re going to get him in trouble.” Jaehwan said before they could leave. Staff Sergeant Kim went away to get the truck and Jisung was trying to breathe in the morning air outside their tent/room. Jaehwan caught Sungwoon by the elbow before the senior doctor could go inside the washroom.

 

“What do you mean by that?” Sungwoon asked him.

 

“What’s going to happen to the captain then?”

 

Sungwoon’s face hardened and he swivelled to look at Jaehwan. Despite being of a smaller size, such action was enough to make the younger one flinched. “No,” Jaehwan tried to explain himself, “I mean, what happened then—” Noticing Sungwoon’s ‘I’m-not-going-to-entertain-your-joke’ face, Jaehwan resigned, “Back then, when you asked me about what do the special task force do, that’s asking about him, is it not?”

 

“That—” Sungwoon couldn’t finish his words. That was so long ago, how could Jaehwan remember that? “That was—”

 

“And one more thing, after you were sent to ER, someone came to visit you in the VIP Unit. When I clocked out for the day, I saw you and him. Together.” Jaehwan was excited to tease Sungwoon about his new beau but the next time he saw the doctor, he was looking so down, as if he got his heart broken. Facing all the tact he has left in him, Jaehwan decided not to say anything. And so, a few months had passed. Now, here they were. “I guess it’s fate, huh, hyung?”

 

“Shut up,” Sungwoon said, “It was nothing back then and it would not even be anything now.” After a while, Sungwoon warned Jaehwan, “I told him to forget all about me. And you should be doing the same too. It’s not going to happen, Jaehwan-ah. Don’t say anything about this to anyone. Don’t even think of this anymore.”

 

“Now go,” Sungwoon ushered him out, “Everyone is waiting for you.”

 

 

When the two of them emerged from the tent, Jaehwan all ready to join Jisung to do some errands, and Sungwoon seeing the two off, there was already another presence with Jisung and Seokwoo. It was Captain Kang.

 

“Good morning,” Jaehwan greeted him, while side-eyeing Sungwoon. Sungwoon pinched his side as he kept a straight face. He gave Daniel a nod as a form of acknowledgment.

 

Daniel said nor do anything in return. He just turned to his subordinate and said, “Alright then, now that you are all ready, I don’t want to keep everyone from leaving.” He gestured Seokwoo to start the engine and the soldier did as he was instructed after saluting his leader. “Take care, if there’s anything wrong, just inform us here.” Daniel said, talking to him from the window.

 

“I will, sir.” Seokwoo replied.

 

“Remember to give me updates. While the team is here, they are our responsibility.” With a salute, the truck left the premise.

 

 

When it was only the two of them left, Daniel looked at Sungwoon.

 

Sungwoon stared back, pretending that it didn’t hurt a bit when Daniel brushed him off like nothing just now. Not even a nod back. But it was what Sungwoon had wanted so he had no rights to be feeling upset right now.

 

“I’ll call the men to have their check-up after they’re done with their morning training. You and your team may prepare for that.”

🚁

* * *

[11]

 

Two weeks were gone just like that—scheduled free health check-ups for the locals and the soldiers themselves, treating the men for their minor injuries, going around the nearby villages for some health awareness programmes and more health screenings. Jisung hyung would also take the young ones (Kuanlin, Jinyoung and Daehwi) to do some programmes for the children—examining their state of health, and help read to them. Daehwi was proven to be a diamond for the team for his English-speaking skills.

 

Everything was going smoothly and in another two weeks’ time, the team would be back to their hometown.

 

Everything but Sungwoon’s relationship with Captain Kang.

 

It was a cold war—and everyone somehow noticed it.

 

 

“What’s up with that?” Jihoon asked after the captain stormed out of the room. “What did you do?” He asked his partner, Woojin. Seongwu snickered from where he was sitting at the end of the table,

 

“I did nothing.” Woojin replied. He eyed the corner of the room where Sungwoon was currently sitting. Some of the hospital staffs were here (because it was cooler in the lounge room—with the fans above their heads and all). The Medic Cube was air-conditioned but it was not conducive to be having meals and conversations in there. “Why don’t you ask Seokwoo right here?” He nudged his friend.

 

“What did I do?” The older man asked.

 

“He gave the doctor some boiled dumplings.” Woojin said.

 

“The pretty one?” Woojin nodded. _Well_ , Jihoon thought, _that wouldn’t be surprising_ —he knew some of the men in their barracks and even in the showers were talking about the pretty and scary team leader. He also acknowledged that the doctor was quite fine-looking. But what did some dumplings had to do with the captain looking like he could mass murder an entire military base?

 

“And?” Jihoon asked, “What’s wrong with that?”

 

Woojin looked up and stared at Jihoon. “Didn’t you get anything at all from the two weeks they’ve been here?” He asked.

 

“What’s going on?” Even Seokwoo asked him.

 

“And you too,” Woojin turned to him, “What are you trying to do here?”

 

 

“Well,” Seokwoo shrugged, “I was just trying to be nice to him?”

 

“Yeah,” Woojin shook his head, “Nice and trying to woo the doctor?”

 

“Wait, so you’re saying that,” Jihoon held Woojin’s shoulder, calling him back to the more important matter at hand. Even Seokwoo leaned in closer. “What you’re implying is that,” Jihoon lowered his voice, “That the captain likes the doctor?”

 

“What?” Seokwoo gaped, “That can’t be.”

 

“What do you mean that can’t be?”

 

“I thought that the captain already has—”

 

 

“Wow, Seokwoo,” Seongwu called from the side. “Let’s not go there, boy.” Although the person that the captain was madly in love with was the same person as the one sitting over at the other table, Seongwu thought that it was best not to share too much. He just held a finger to his mouth and nodded his head at Seokwoo.

 

“What’s up?” Jihoon and Woojin looked at the same-aged friends. “You can’t just say that and stop there!” Jihoon hissed.

 

 

And Sungwoon thought that his staffs were the epitome of gossipers. The soldiers weren’t really quiet (their inner voice was already loud—maybe it’s because they shout a lot during their training). Under the soft murmur of the spinning fan, their voices could be heard clearly from where he was sitting.

 

Sungwoon knew that the Staff Sergeant Kim has been extra ‘nice’ to him—he would always give Sungwoon extra rice when he’s on kitchen duty, would help him to set up the canopy without being asked to when they do health check-ups for the locals, well—it was obvious that he was trying to impress him. Sungwoon wasn’t born yesterday. He knew when some stares meant something else entirely.

 

🚁

 

“And why are you reciprocating his advances?” Sejeong asked.

 

They were inside the trauma room—Sungwoon just observing as the nurse arranged the surgery tools on the tray—as if they had a need to use them. Their stay here in Urk so far had been… _just okay_. Nothing much to do—they just had to deal with the weather and that was mostly it. Some soldiers had taken their trainings too far and would end up dehydrated or exhausted, but so far, they’d dealt with nothing more serious than fixing a split on strained muscles and some deep stitches.

 

After leaving the lounge room, Sungwoon caught a few of his colleagues talking about some ‘rumours’, discoursing on who’d dated who, who’s dating who, who wants to be dating who… They stopped talking (and continued after Sungwoon joined Sejeong inside the trauma room) but it was obvious that Sungwoon’s name had been thrown into the equation a few times.

 

“I just thought that it’s harmless. I can’t possible say anything to the kid,” Sungwoon explained, “Not when he hadn’t said a word to me.”

 

“So, you want him to confess, then? Hyung?”

 

“What?” Sungwoon was taken aback, “Of course, not. It would make everything more complicated.”

 

“But you said that there’s nothing going on with you and the captain.” Sejeong laid the reminder for him. Sensing Sungwoon’s tangled mind, Sejeong paused her work and looked at the doctor. “That’s an obvious lie, isn’t it? Can you stop pretending that there’s nothing between you two? It pains us all to see.”

 

“What’s there supposed to be between us? I barely know him.”

 

“Hmm,” Sejeong hummed. She resumed her work but not without giving Sungwoon a small smile. “That’s not what my sources told me…”

 

“What did Jaehwan tell you?” Sungwoon sighed. He ought to stuff the younger doctor’s mouth with some gauze pads.

 

Sejeong looked at him with a sly smile—the one she’d always do before she steals Sungwoon’s meat serving. “I’m not talking about Jaehwan… but I guess I could ask him around for some information then?” She laughed heartily.

 

“You’re shitting with me right now.” Sungwoon waved her off. After all, Sungwoon had always kept his relationships private—this include whatever he had with Daniel before. “Nothing happened between us. I don’t know why everyone’s been trying to push us together. This is not some KBS drama for them to pair us up.”

 

“That’s not what my source told me.” Sejeong repeated, even nudging Sungwoon with her bony yet strong elbow. The doctor stumbled a bit. Who on earth was Sejeong’s source? Sungwoon scooted away from Sejeong and tried to brainstorm—no one knew about him and Daniel before and the few people who’d seen them interacting was— _ah_ —damn it’s gotta be Kim Sohye.

 

“You know my source is not the type to lie.” She shrugged, looking at Sungwoon like he’d some kind of fool. Maybe he indeed was. And that was why Sejeong was looking at him like that. “Anyway, she’s kind of happy after knowing that we two met up here again.”

 

“You told her?”

 

“You know that there’s no secret among us.” She defended. “It’s not going to travel around, don’t worry. It’s just among our circle anyway. And you know that everyone’s been trying to get you to date someone new. It’s been too long.”

 

“Your circle includes 10 other girls…” Sungwoon palmed his face. He wondered if Jisung or Jaehwan could salvage him after he poked himself with one of the scalpels.

 

“Oh, come on, let’s not be dramatic here.” Sejeong tried to calm Sungwoon down, “We’re all adults now. It’s been years since medical school and the MSF time. No, Doyeon is not going to plan for your wedding at the moment. She said she needs to see him first.”

 

“There’s no one to meet here.” Sungwoon insisted.

 

Sejeong nodded her head, “Keep telling yourself that, bub.”

🚁

* * *

[12]

 

One night, both teams were having dinner at the lounge—courtesy of one of the village’s head who sent them some meat from their previous hunt. Jisung flaunted his special skills as he cooked for them, leaving the soldiers to call out his name, ‘ _Jisung hyung-nim’_ in unison.

 

Dinner started, conversations flew like open fire, everyone was having a good time. When Sungwoon was done with making sure everyone had their potions, he noticed that not everyone was present in the lounge. He asked Seongwu whom he’d somehow befriended, “What about those on sentry duty?”

 

“It’s okay, we’ll leave some for them.” He answered.

 

By the rate of the men (plus Sejeong) swallowing everything like hungry wolves, Sungwoon doubted that those few men could even see any leftover once they were done with their shifts. When Seongwu noticed Sungwoon’s apparent concern, he asked, “Why? Are you worried about our Captain?”

 

“What?” Sungwoon gaped at him.

 

 

In a cue, everyone started cooing (even his traitorous colleagues). Sungwoon wasn’t feeling anything but when he was put into the spotlight like that, he couldn’t help but to grow scarlet. He didn’t know how everyone seemed to suspect that the two had something when _nothing_ happened between them.

 

(“It was your gazes, both of you,” Sejeong once mentioned. “Your eyes tell us everything.”)

 

When Sungwoon looked at the crowd, he made eye contact with one Kim Seokwoo. The soldier simply smiled at him and raised his shoulders. He looked somehow sad. Next to him, his friends petted him consolingly. ‘ _Even him_?’ Sungwoon thought.

 

“It’s nothing,” Sungwoon declared to everyone in his loud voice. “Stop it.”

 

“How could we stop when you’re blushing like that?” Jinyoung hollered back.

 

“You, how could you?” Sungwoon pointed at him, “I practically raised you on my back.” He warned.

 

 

But before Sungwoon could make his way to chase after Jinyoung who was totally having the time of his life, he was stopped by a sudden commotion from outside. The soldiers all grew alarmed and laughter were wiped off from the place.

 

Seongwu, acting as Daniel’s second-in-command stood up. One of his hand dialled a number on his phone while the other one gave gestural commands to his troop. He went to the door and talked in hushed voices with whoever was on the other line.

 

“What’s going on?” Sungwoon asked after Seongwu hung up. “What’s happening?”

 

 

“Alpha Team, code orange.” He announced.

 

Seokwoo, Jihoon and Woojin quickly strapped themselves off of their napkins and stood up. Seongwu gave them some instructions before letting them exit the room. He then turned around and notified his men, “Beta team, you’ll stay on ground. I need you to protect the SNU Team and patrol around the base. Station everyone at every entry point. And I need Charlie to act as the backup. Captain Kang is outside to brief you.”  

 

“Is this a drill?” Someone asked.

 

“No, so drop your spoons. The village next to us was infiltrated.”

 

🚁 

 

“What’s going on?” Daehwi asked.

 

He and Jinyoung were cleaning the kitchen as Sejeong went to the Medic Cube to check for the supplies. Somehow, she had a hunch that they’d be busy for the night. Jaehwan and Kuanlin had come along with her to get everything ready. Sungwoon was outside to talk to the captain.

 

Jinyoung shrugged and looked at Jisung, “What’s going to happen to us, hyung?” He asked. “Is it okay for us to stay inside here?”

 

Jisung tried to calm the two nurses. “Everything’s going to be okay. We’ll join them in the Medic Cube once we’re done here.”

 

“But what about—”

 

“Team Leader Ha will talk to us once he’s done talking to the captain.”

 

 

“Any casualty?” Sungwoon asked as he watched Daniel putting on his helmet. Daniel had just updated him on the situation—how a bleeding stationed soldier had come back to the base to alert them. Luckily Daniel was just around the patrol area when they called him. They had reported the headquarters where they would also send help from their base.

 

“We couldn’t reach the village and the soldier said nothing other than what I told you.” Daniel looked inside the Medic Cube where Jaehwan was already in the trauma room to treat the soldier’s wounds. He was attacked from a close range—a knife stabbed to his lower abdomen. It was a miracle that he could travel the journey to report back to the base.  

 

“Jaehwan is a good surgeon,” Sungwoon reassured Daniel. “Don’t worry.”

 

Daniel looked at Sungwoon. Behind him, his team was already in full gear. The Alpha Team would be manning the mission to check the village. “Are you okay?” He asked Sungwoon, “I think it’s best if your team gets ready as well.”

 

“I will tell them to prepare themselves.” Sungwoon nodded—them and himself included. It seemed that the equipment in the Medic Cube would be of proper use, finally. Looking at the faces of his team behind him, Sungwoon urged Daniel to get back to them.

 

But as Daniel spun around to lead his team, Sungwoon’s hand reached out to hold his wrist. Daniel looked at the doctor—terror and fear both evident on his face. His fingers were trembling. He looked paler than ever. Daniel smiled, trying to boost some good vibe onto him, “What’re you afraid of? Aren’t you Doctor Ha who’d manned SNU’s Emergency Unit for months? This would be lesser than what you’ve dealt with.”

 

“Are _you_ going to be alright?” Sungwoon asked. And his next words stabbed Daniel’s heart, “You’re not going to disappear on me again, are you?”

 

🚁 

 

“How’s the situation outside? Do you need help?” Sejeong asked Daehwi who was frantically moving about in the Medic Cube. The soldiers had set up a canopy outside, acting like a triage centre for them to categorise their victims. The ones tagged with red and yellow were taken immediately inside the cube, awaiting treatment. Sungwoon and Jaehwan were in adjacent trauma rooms—having Kuanlin, Jinyoung and two other military medical assistants supporting their surgeries.

 

Sejeong was experienced on first aid, tending to the yellow tags while managing the entire Medic Cube centre at the moment. The military medical personnel were helping out as well—both outside and inside.

 

“I just need to get—” He took the boxes without wording what he wanted. There was no time to waste in minor conversations at the moment. He was helping Jisung working on several serious cases under the canopy. The space inside the Medic Cube wasn’t enough for them.

 

 

The soldiers had returned—with minor scratches and injuries. The Alpha Team had arrived, barricading the village under attack apparently, by a group of gangsters (not terrorists), _mere hooligans_. They were lucky this time—to be dealing with gangsters instead of terrorists in which lately had named Urk as one of the most dangerous places on earth. The gang attacked the village, targeting the village head and his family—but ended up crossing paths with the UN soldiers on guard.

 

But it wasn’t something to be taken lightly—lives were still at stake (mostly the UN soldiers) and some villagers who’d been gathering at the village hall for a meeting. The situations got messy there when the building was set on fire by the gangsters.

 

Only two had escaped—unfortunately the leader and his second man—from getting caught by the Alpha Team. The captain was involved in a car chase with the escaping criminal but he failed, leaving him with a crushed shoulder from being hit with the car.

 

The rest of the gang, they were taken away by the main team to the headquarter closer to town. Daniel made that decision to send them there considering the state of their base. Even now, with half of the red tagged victims taken to the hospital by ambulance, the Medic Cube was still out of space, time and staffs to carry out the whole operation.

 

🚁 

 

“Is there anything else that we can do to help?” Jihoon asked, restless when they saw the medical personnel running around. It was a 180º change from how things were in their base.

 

Jisung addressed him with a shake of a head, “Or maybe, can you get me some more light?” He asked, sending off a few men at once to take the requested item.

 

 

“The ambulance is back,” Seongwu told Daniel.

 

“The red tags are inside,” He told them in English and they rushed over to the Medic Cube, before carrying out two more victims. One of the paramedics then informed Daniel, “We can’t take any more than this. The Emergency Unit in the hospital is also full with other victims.”

 

“But we’re short of doctors too. I believe that there is another one of our men who needs surgery.” Daniel told them. After all, they couldn’t possibly be leaving some foreign doctors to do their work here. The Medic Cube was a gift from the Gukmin Hospital as a clinic, mainly, not to be taken as a real hospital.

 

“I’m sorry,” The paramedic said as he closed the backdoor of the ambulance. “But we can’t help much. We’re short of staff too. It’s a wonder that these doctors are here.”

 

Daniel groaned into his palm. They couldn’t possibly be doing this. The team barely had the strength to hold on anymore and they had no other staffs to swap shifts with. Sensing his distress, the paramedic told him, “There are a few MSF volunteers that helped the hospital for the earthquake two months ago. We don’t know if they’re still here but I can give someone a call to ask about it.”

🚁

* * *

[13]

 

Jaehwan was out of surgery already. He walked outside and stretched his body.

 

It was no exaggeration that he wanted to vomit. He’d never been so unprepared before going into a surgery. Things had cleared off outside the Medic Cube and the patients had been sent inside to rest. Jisung was dead asleep under the canopy while Kuanlin was treating a soldier’s minor cut. He was dismissed from Sungwoon’s surgery earlier, switching place with Daehwi who went in to assist Sungwoon for the last one.

 

“How are you doing, doctor?” Jihoon asked him, handing a bottle of water over. Seeing Jaehwan’s incoordination, Jihoon took the bottle back and opened the lid for him. Jaehwan gulped the whole thing in one go.

 

“I feel like dying.” Jaehwan answered, voice coming out groused and strained. He noted the soldiers lingering under the canopy as if they hadn’t had their own bunks. “Why is everyone out here?” No one answered him, all tending to their own thoughts.

 

“These kinds of things never happen here?” Jaehwan asked Jihoon. “Why is everyone so shaken up? I know we looked frantic when the situation blew up…” He scanned the place and saw everyone’s tired faces, “But everyone looks so beaten up here.”

 

“It’s because it happens so often that we look like this,” Woojin offered from the seat next to Jihoon. “But this time, we saw first-hand how the treatments come to be.”

 

Seokwoo nodded his head, “True, all the other times, we’d sent the victims to the hospital and that was it. We’d cleared the place, be lookouts for a week or two and go on with our other missions.”  Seokwoo added, “Our base has shortage of medical help. That was one of the reasons why UN had reached out to your hospital to help us.”

 

Jaehwan nodded his head. Kuanlin was finally done with his stitching and proudly showed the final product to Jaehwan. The older doctor nodded and petted Kuanlin’s head (he was sitting down, Jaehwan could easily reached him from their position then) as a form of acknowledgment. The soldier thanked him, “Your stitches look neat,” He even commented, making the younger physical blooming with satisfaction.

 

“You tired, Lin-Lin?” Jaehwan asked, dropping down to the seat occupied by the soldier just now. Like a cue, Kuanlin spun him to the side and massaged his shoulders, “Yes, that feels _amazing_.” He said, craning his head to give more access to Kuanlin.

 

“I am,” Kuanlin admitted, “But I bet Sungwoon hyung is more tired. He’s been in two surgeries back to back.” The first one was a gunshot case—one of the soldiers being shot in his upper shoulder. While moving him, bumps on the road caused the bullet to bounce around, making his injury more serious. The second one was a was a glass-stabbed victim, it took long because the area pierced was close to the arteries, making the surgery a meticulous one. All and all, it was a long day for the doctor.

 

 

The captain looked distraught. It didn’t take long for everyone to put two into two. He had not taken a rest ever since the incident broke out the night before. It was late afternoon now, the next day, and it was a surprise to see anyone having an ounce of energy left in them.

 

Seongwu had gone to the HQ to report on behalf of Daniel. The captain was supposed to be the one reporting to their superintendent but looking at the troubled state Daniel was in, the Staff Sergeant decided to go instead of him. He doubted that the captain could form coherent words judging by his physical.

 

Jaehwan noticed this. “Don’t worry,” He told the soldier, “Hyung has dealt with hellish shifts in the hospital before coming here. He could handle two surgeries back to back.” After a few moments, he added, “He’s amazing like that.”

 

 

Daniel casted his eyes off the Medic Cube and looked at the ground. He couldn’t help the small proud smile on his face. He knew Sungwoon was amazing long ago, and seeing him in action once more yesterday made Daniel so, so honoured to be witnessing it.

 

“I know,” He said quietly. He did, after all, fall in love with Sungwoon at first sight. And when Sungwoon offered to treat his opened wound back then, Daniel had fallen even more. It wouldn’t take much to get Daniel to admit that Sungwoon’s amazing.

 

🚁

 

After another while of waiting, Sungwoon was finally done with his surgeries. “I’ll take it from here,” Jisung said to him. After all, he got some shut-eye under the canopy. He could handle some stitching of an open cut. “Take some rest,” Jisung ushered Sungwoon out of the room.

 

“I’ll get going after I check on—”

 

“There’s no need for that,” Jisung called out to him. “I’ve taken care of everything already. Hurry up and get some rest. After some sleep, then I’ll let you boss me around again.”

 

Sungwoon sighed, hands still stretched out like a kid who’s had his toy taken away from him, in this case it was his surgery. Seeing him unbudgingly rooted to the place, Jisung sighed. But before he could open his mouth to nag further at Sungwoon, the other doctor sensed the upcoming earache and quickly made his exit.

 

“You’ve done amazing, hyung.” Daehwi said as Sungwoon trudged outside.

 

 

When Sungwoon stepped outside, he tried to make the detour to check the other patients. “Oh no, you don’t,” Sejeong caught him by the arms and whirled him into the common lounge. “Don’t be stubborn. You’re the only one who hadn’t stopped at all.”

 

“I’m fine.” Sungwoon calmed her down. “You know that I worked worse hours at our hospital.”

 

“That’s not something to be proud of.” Sejeong shook her head. “Anyway, workaholic, just go and clean after yourself if you don’t want to sleep. You look like a mess. I don’t want you to be fainting in my Medic Cube after this. We’re short of doctors anyway, we can’t afford to lose you too.”

 

Sungwoon snickered but nodded his head anyway. “Fine, fine. Anyway, _my_ Medic Cube. _Mine_.”  

 

“Make sure you go straight back to the tent.” Sejeong warned her.

 

“Yeah,” Sungwoon just raised a hand.

 

🚁 

 

When the team leader emerged from the Medic Cube, everyone grew alert. They were smiling at each other, reliefs eradiating clearly from each and every one of them. Sungwoon’s appearance entailed that the worst had passed.

 

However, for the doctor, world spun around him the moment he took in the outside air. His sight became blurred and his head heavy with dizziness. It was fatigue— _of_ _course_ —and the hot weather spiked up his exhaustion. “Hey, watch out—” Someone called out, the moment his body crumbled to the ground.

 

But instead of the hard soil, his body was cushioned by something else— _warmth?_

_🚁_

* * *

 


	5. five

👨⚕️

* * *

[14]

 

Rewinding back to a few moments before that happened, Sergeant Major Ong returned from the HQ a few towns over. He hollered from the front window— “Captain—” He saluted, “I have the MSF volunteers here. Two of them.”

 

“Oh, great—” Daniel said, standing up from his seat. The passenger seat of the truck opened and out came a doctor. Following closely behind him was a female one, holding a heavy bag across her chest—supplies for the products the Medic Cube was lacking of maybe.

 

Daniel walked towards the two doctors, about to introduce himself to them. The doctor also turned to him, bowed, and stretched his hand. But before any of them could exchange a word, the front door to the Medic Cube was wide opened.

 

It was Sungwoon—he looked tired. Daniel’s hand paused as he took in the doctor’s condition—he seemed fine. Tired…but fine nevertheless. He couldn’t contain the comforted sigh that escaped him. The soldiers and medical staffs behind him hurrahed for Sungwoon’s appearance. It had been so long since they last seen him after all, for he had been cooped inside the operation room for hours, almost one full day now.

 

He must’ve been tired, Daniel noted again. His heart hurt from seeing him like that. But before Sungwoon could address anyone, Daniel saw from the corner of his peripheral vision, the doctor’s eyes unfocusing and his body starting to stumble down. Daniel could hear someone screaming, “Hey, watch out—” but his reflex kicked in faster.

 

Maybe not fast enough, as the doctor whom he was about to greet had rushed to cushion Sungwoon’s fall.

 

 

“Holy shit—” Daniel heard Jaehwan cursed.

 

Daniel just watched (not much he could’ve done—taking Sungwoon from the person’s hold would be quite a scene so he refrained himself from doing so). The doctor hugged Sungwoon’s frame, leaning the unconscious man onto his chest and gestured for his companion to take his bag. The female doctor approached them, transporting his bag onto her shoulder. “Dr. Ha must’ve been exhausted,” She commented.

 

“Oh?” One of the soldiers behind his shoulder questioned, “The doctors know Dr. Ha?”

 

Daniel regained his composure and spun around. “Maybe they come to know each other when they were doing voluntarily work 2 years ago.” Daniel knew this small trivia from Sungwoon’s words himself and when he saw his records before Gukmin Hospital sent them over to Urk.

 

 

As Daniel was explaining that to his subordinates, the doctor had scooped Sungwoon into his arms, carrying him bridal style. _Wow, okay_ , guess that being in the Emergency Programme caused his doctoral instincts to be all sharp and kicking in the moment he saw a potential patient. “I’ll be treating him inside first,” The doctor said in fluent Korean. “After that, I’ll introduce myself properly to you, Captain. If you’d excuse me…”

 

“Talking about getting your moment snatched,” Seongwu commented. He’d already parked the truck and had another soldier transporting it somewhere else. Daniel just shrugged and turned around. “You know you can come inside, right? You’re the captain after all.”

 

“He’s going to be alright. There’re plenty of doctors inside there.” Daniel replied Seongwu. “You’ve done well, Sergeant Major. What did the Lieutenant Colonel say?”

 

 

As Daniel went under the canopy to hear the reports from Seongwu, Jaehwan suddenly said something, “There are plenty of doctors in there.” He echoed, “But there is no other doctor like Dr. Hwang.”

 

“Oh?” Kuanlin asked, “Is he any good, hyung-nim? Do you know that handsome doctor?”

 

Instead of answering his younger colleague, Jaehwan told Daniel, “If I were you, I’d go inside to check on Dr. Ha’s condition.”

 

“It’s fine,” Daniel brushed his suggestion off. He could restrain his jealousy from acting up—although he likes Sungwoon, he wouldn’t be all possessive and unreasonable. Daniel would not be all fencing up on Sungwoon, not when he was supposed to be getting medical treatment. Daniel nodded, sure of himself, “I’ll come inside to check on him later. And to talk to the doctors as well, of course…”

 

“Suit yourself, Captain,” Jaehwan added. “Don’t say I haven’t warned you.”

 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Seokwoo asked.

 

Jaehwan had a grimace on his face. He patted the soldier’s side and tilted his head unsurely. “You’ll find out soon enough. I need to come inside.”  

 

👨⚕️ 

 

“Oh?” Jisung turned to the commotion at the entrance. “I told him to get some rest! I knew that this’d happen…” He sighed when he saw someone carrying Sungwoon to one of the vacant beds (luckily, they still had one more). Jisung shook his head and quickly washed his hand with the sanitiser once more. “Sejeong, some help here.” He called.

 

“Is it Dr. Ha?” Sejeong asked, “I swore that I told him to get immediate rest.”

 

And as the two colleagues took in the identity of the doctor, they paused in their track.

 

 

“What are _you_ doing in here?” Jisung asked.

 

Busy with crying out orders to treat the unconscious doctor, the man in question did not acknowledge Jisung’s query. After Jaehwan (who’d followed swiftly into the Medic Cube earlier) was done poking some needles on Sungwoon’s hand to transfer a bag of IV fluids into his system, only then did the doctor calm down.

 

Sungwoon was now lying soundly on the bed, oblivious to the tension among the doctors surrounding him.

 

“What are you doing inside my Medic Cube?” Jisung asked again, now coming into the view of the MSF volunteers. The female doctor tugged her colleague’s sleeve to gain his attention. “Dr. Hwang,” She called, “The doctor is talking to you.”

 

“Have your ears gone deaf after working in foreign countries for years now, Hwang? The least you could do in someone else’s hospital is to acknowledge the doctor in charge—”

 

“Hyung—” The doctor finally said, “He collapsed in front of other doctors and nurses. How could I not worry when I saw him stumbling down just like that? What happened here?”

 

Jisung was momentarily distracted from his anger. He dismissed the crowd that had formed around them, leaving Jaehwan and Sejeong to quickly reassure the other patients that nothing serious had stirred up. “Didn’t you hear? You were just here, weren’t you?”

 

“A village infiltrated by gang members is a common thing here, hyung. You have to give me more than that. Any casualty? The Sergeant Major that brought me here filled me in with some information but I need to work with a doctor’s report too.”

 

“Using military terms now, are we?” Jisung side-eyed his former colleague. “What took you so long to get here anyway? We’re done with all the big surgeries. I was just finished stitching up a glass-wound patient just a few moments ago. Sungwoon here got all the serious red cases.” When Jisung noticed Minhyun’s small frown, he quickly jumped in to defend their decision, “Don’t look at me like that. We’re very short of staffs, as you can see and the military medical personnel could only help as much.”

 

 

“What can we do to help?” The female doctor suddenly interrupted their conversation. She pointedly looked at Minhyun too and he sensibly took back his bag. “I’m Dr. Lee Kaeun from the MSF Volunteer.” She stretched her hand towards Jisung.

 

“Oh, sorry,” Jisung apologised, shaking her hand, “I’m Dr. Yoon Jisung. We’re volunteers from Gukmin Hospital.”

 

“And I assume that you know my fellow doctor here?” Kaeun asked Jisung, smiling as she retreated her hand.

 

“Unfortunately,” Jisung shrugged. “Is that heavy?” He asked, quickly taking in the plastic bags she’d been hugging since her arrival. “Here, let me take it from you. May I ask how long will you be here?” The two moved away from the bed, over to the counter to settle on the products. From afar, Minhyun could see Sejeong and she gave him a small smile as a greeting.

 

“What a reunion, huh?” Minhyun turned around, surprised at Jaehwan’s sudden question. However, interrupting the two friends’ reunion, the Captain came into the Medic Cube. Jaehwan’s face changed and he slowly moved away from the place. Maybe he’d be best checking his other patients than participating in that awkward interaction.

👨⚕️

* * *

[15]

 

The next scene took us outside the Medic Cube.

 

“I’m Captain Kang Daniel,” He introduced himself, “of the Alpha Team. I’m in charge of this west military base.” They shared a firm hand shake and Daniel directed them to the charts under the canopy. Weird feelings aside, he wanted to appropriately welcome the volunteers over. A few of his soldiers saluted their leader before going back to their works.

 

“I’m Dr. Hwang Minhyun,” Minhyun said next. He’s fine-looking, that Daniel can vouched. The doctor continued, “As you know, I’m with the MSF programme. Kaeun and I were about to leave to the next town when your HQ called us.”

 

“Did we interrupt your plan?” Daniel asked, “I’m sorry for that—”

 

“Oh no,” Minhyun shook his hand, refusing to accept Daniel’s apology. They could never predict a catastrophe like this. “The next stop was just to give the town some health check-ups. We learned that the children had been diagnosed with lead poisoning there. Some of our volunteers had headed out there two days ago.”

 

“Oh, that’s fine then? For you two to be missing from the programme?”

 

“It’s okay,” Minhyun smiled, reassuring the soldier. Again, Daniel could not deny his attractiveness. He looked away from the doctor to the charts. Minhyun added, “After all, we came here on our own accord. When we learnt that the Gukmin Group had established their Medic Cube here, we’re glad that we’re the one sent over. The least we could do was to assist them.”

 

This perked Daniel’s attention, “I can safely assume that you have a connection with the group?” Considering how some of the medical staffs stationed here recognised the doctor.

 

Minhyun let out a small chuckle. _God_ —Daniel hated how he got inferior just listening to his laughter. He cleared his throat, reminded himself that he’s the respected captain of the Alpha Team.

 

“Yes, I am, actually. No matter what, I think that my fate with the hospital is very strong. I was a former surgeon there, emergency medicine. I worked with some of these staffs here for quite a while.”

 

“Ah,” Daniel nodded, “I see. And you worked with Dr. Ha in the MSF?”

 

Minhyun were quiet for a moment. It seemed that he was staring at the charts. Daniel waited for him, overseeing the entire base. When Minhyun returned his attention to Daniel, he confessed, “I did. Worked with him. In fact, we were from the same medical school. Us and Nurse Kim over there. Dr. Ha was a senior for one year.”

 

There, Daniel got his answer already. He nodded in understanding. Not long moment after that, one of the nurses, Jinyoung (was it?) called Minhyun inside. Well, not necessarily him but one of the doctors? The gunshot patient, one of Daniel’s subordinate had woken up.

 

“I guess I should come inside.” Minhyun excused himself.

 

Daniel nodded, “Sure, and I’ll be briefing everyone on the situation tomorrow morning. Maybe you and your colleague, Dr. Lee could introduce yourself to everyone then?”

 

“Sure, not a problem.”

 

 

As Minhyun entered the Medic Cube, Daniel contemplated on his next move. To waste some time from going inside and visiting Sungwoon (he was still asleep, Woojin had reported to him earlier), Daniel sat in front of the charts. Not even one death count, all thanks to the hospital staffs. If the Medic Cube wasn’t built here, there would be no way that the military’s medical team could handle everything on their own. Also, the trip to the closest hospital would cost them more lives. _Would cost Daniel more comrades_.

 

“You okay, captain?” Someone asked.

 

“Yeah,” Daniel answered. “I am.”

 

It was just—he was just thinking of this life that he’d chosen. He never regretted it, no, taking his oath to protect his nation and the civilians had done nothing but given Daniel happiness and satisfaction. Call it some kind of egoistical sense, but he fed on his achievement and his mission’s successes. He would forever work hard to be of any use to his country, to serve his flag and its people. This is his job.

 

And Sungwoon—Ha Sungwoon—he came into Daniel’s life, demolishing any sense of routine and discipline he has. It was love, of course, but he’d never experience this much pain along with the love. Ha Sungwoon is different… he is strong-headed and reliable, a true leader to his people. He was a force of his own. _Untameable_ , if Daniel could use that particular word.

 

For two weeks, they’d done nothing but ignore each other, both too stubborn to let their guards down.

 

👨⚕️ 

 

Sungwoon was mad at him. That much, Daniel could infer. He had left him, alone, on his cold bed, with nothing but a sad excuse of a parting note. Explaining about the phone calls and the messages, the connection was a pain to deal with at first, when Daniel was posted to man this base at Urk. In the end, he just—he lost the right timing to contact Sungwoon again. In the first few months, Sungwoon’s calls and messages were reduced to none.

 

Daniel was afraid. He could’ve dialled back, could’ve sent a short text… but he didn’t.

 

And this, he’d never talked about this to anyone but actually, they did talk once… on the phone.

 

Daniel returned to South Korea, one day, for another mission given to the Alpha Team. It was an espionage mission. He’d busted his upper shoulder again, from another bullet and was transferred to Gukmin Hospital to get treatment. It wasn’t Sungwoon who treated him, no, but he saw how hard the man was working from a patient’s bed to another.

 

Daniel kept it low, didn’t want to add to Sungwoon’s misery. He noticed that the doctor was barely holding on and his heart ached just as much.

 

 

When Sungwoon clocked out from his shift, he did not leave straight to his house. He went to a drinking place, ordered three bottles of sojus right away and just nibbled on the roasted squid he’d ordered. One, two, his tears fell down.

 

Daniel felt so useless, like a coward. He just watched from afar as Sungwoon wiped his tears and dunk down that shot. After his third bottle (he had foregone the glasses and instead drank straight from the bottle), he dialled Daniel’s number.

 

Imagine Daniel’s surprise and panic when his phone rang just behind Sungwoon’s table.

 

 

In that short phone call—three minutes and twenty-two seconds, Sungwoon said everything Daniel needed to know.

 

 _“I miss you… I hate you… I never want to see your face anymore_ …” those were along the lines Sungwoon had said to him. Also, “Y _ou make everything worse. My life… it’s best if you were not even here in the first place_.”

 

Sungwoon did not fall asleep after his drunken phone call. He even went to the extent of erasing the call log and Daniel’s number altogether. Daniel would know this, he witnessed everything happening. But yet, there wasn’t much he could do. As we’ve established earlier, he was a coward, just resolving to stare from afar to care for Sungwoon. The doctor was apparently sober enough to call one of his friends to fetch him and Daniel saw as he was hauled inside a cab.

 

From there on, Daniel cut his vacation short, said goodbye to his mother over the phone and booked another ticket back to Urk. Little did he know that they would meet once again at this most unfortunate place.

👨⚕️

* * *

 

[16]

 

“I need you to check on the gunshot patient.” Jinyoung said, handing over the patient’s chart to the doctor. Dr. Kim is resting at the barrack and Dr. Yoon went to the closest downtown with the Sergeant Major to get us some food. I hope you don’t mind, doctor.”

 

“No, of course not,” Minhyun said as he reached out for the patient’s chart. Walking pass Sungwoon’s bed, Minhyun made a stop to check on his condition as well. He was given another bag of fluids, considering that his degree of dehydration was closer to a serious scale. Of course, in the span of the last 24 hours, Sungwoon barely got any food or drinks—he was too busy treating other patients.

 

It was night already. The few patients that they had done surgery on had showed good vitals so far. It seemed fitting that the UN had reached out for Gukmin Hospital to aid their missionary project. These people were the best of the best. Or maybe Minhyun was just biased, after all, the doctors here, they were more than just colleagues or acquantainces. These were the people that had made him as he is today.

 

“Doctor?” Jinyoung prompted from the side. Minhyun woke up from his minor flashback moment, and nodded, resuming his work.

 

 

Sungwoon was still in a deep sleep when Daniel finally came around.

 

He stopped by his bed, observing his face—reminded of the day he left him. He was sound asleep too, back then, and Daniel had to make the choice to leave them. He’d expected that it would be the last time they would see each other considering the high stake the mission was given to him. But that didn’t mean that Daniel liked it in a bit, or wanted it in the very least.

 

For months, he’d gone by sleepless night, thinking of the lover he’d let go.

 

Although the sentiment wasn’t quite two-sided. He didn’t even know Sungwoon’s feelings—aside from him telling Daniel that he was the worst thing that’d ever happen to him (although those were all drunken words).

 

He probably did the right choice. Eight months ago.

 

 

“You’re here, captain?” Minhyun suddenly asked, “Here to check on your soldier?”

 

 _Ah_. Daniel looked at him in surprise. Yeah, right, _captain duty_ , he nodded. Beside him, the nurse, Jinyoung sighed and shook his head. He then excused himself to go somewhere else. Daniel reluctantly left Sungwoon’s side and marched towards the hybrid room. “Yeah, how is Private Choi?”

 

👨⚕️

 

When Sungwoon woke up, it was already midnight. Sejeong and Kuanlin were on night duty, hunched over the counter to try and contact their families back in their respective hometowns. The little tapping accompanied the night, that, and the drip of fluids injected to the patients, also machines beeping life onto them.

 

Sungwoon sat straight on his bed. His body must’ve given up on him, he concluded. He felt groggy all over, life his soul had been ran over by a truck. Kuanlin and Sejeong hadn’t notice him and Sungwoon wanted to keep it that way. He knew he was bound to be bombarded with questions, or worse, some naggings to take care of his body. He reached out to check his own charts and saw the stats.

 

“For a doctor,” Someone whispered at the side, causing Sungwoon’s heart to jump out of his chest. “Ah, sorry—” the person said, “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

 

It was Daniel. Head supported by his hand, sitting by Sungwoon’s bed. Sungwoon was about to hit him as a reflex but he saw the bandages covering Daniel’s shoulder. His action ceased. The area it covered seemed big and Sungwoon’s words got caught in his throat. In the matter of seconds, he was crying onto his palms.

 

“What’s happening?” Kuanlin asked, coming to a standing position, “Hyung, are you okay? Does anything hurt?”

 

“It’s okay,” Sungwoon stopped him there, with his tears still trickling over his cheeks. He was sobbing as he said, “I’m okay, just shaken up. It’s alright, you don’t have to check on me.” Kuanlin was about to say ‘there’s no such thing as that, you’re a doctor, you know how the drill goes’ but then he saw the presence of the captain next to their team leader. Sejeong, beside him, also shook her head so Kuanlin just sat down.

 

“It’s okay,” Sejeong told Kuanlin, “Let’s give them some time to be alone for now. Dr. Ha knows what he’s doing.”

 

 

“For a doctor,” Daniel thought that it was fine for him to continue his words. “You seem to be careless in taking care of your body too.” They were now in the lounge—the kitchenette area. Daniel served Sungwoon a packet of heated instant porridge and a glass of hot tea. Sungwoon looked at the bowl and the glass in front of him for a while—what did he expect anyway from a soldier through and through. Everything served to him screamed ‘military’ and it brought Sungwoon back to his serving days.

 

He didn’t want to eat any more instant food. The moment he returns to Korea, the first thing Sungwoon would do is to stuff himself with REAL, delicious food. But for now, he knew to be grateful and accepted his dinner or late supper.

 

“There was no time to waste—”

 

“You should’ve at least had something to drink. Or even a small piece of bread—”

 

“Save me from the nagging, please,” Sungwoon sighed, “I will be hearing plenty of that tomorrow morning and I don’t need one from you too.” He began picking up the spoon and ate his porridge. His movements were still weak and Sungwoon cursed at his _fortune_ to be sick at a time like this. He was supposed to be the team leader, _damn it_.

 

“But,” Daniel said, “But you’ve done so well, doctor.” The sudden compliment surprised Sungwoon. He didn’t see that one coming. He thought that Daniel would continue to nag on him. He looked up at the soldier and found him looking down at his own hot tea. “The situation would’ve probably been more serious if it wasn’t for you. We may have zero casualty this time but some of patients’ conditions were considered serious. If we didn’t have the medical support from your team, we’d be dealing with a larger consequence.”

 

He continued, “I’m ashamed to say that I am in charge of this area. A village is attacked by a gang. That proves that I had failed my mission to protect everyone I’m accounted to. And Private Choi… I should’ve known better and prevented this from happening.”

 

“It’s not like you could predict everything.” Sungwoon tried to comfort him, “You’ve done well too. In fact, you’re the best leader your troop could help.”

 

And Sungwoon remembered, his question to Daniel before they were separated by their responsibilities…

 

_“Are you going to be alright?”_

 

_“You’re not going to disappear on me again, are you?”_

 

“You okay there?” Daniel asked, “Do you need help?” He noticed that Sungwoon’s hand was still shaking. “Do you need my help?”

 

“What can a man with a busted shoulder be able to help me with?” Sungwoon asked. He eyed Daniel’s injury in distaste. In a situation like this, he had gotten himself a broken shoulder, nice, what else to say for other missions he was given? In an open battlefield? Sungwoon didn’t want to think of it.

 

“This is nothing,” Daniel smiled. He was trying to make himself look all able in front of Sungwoon but doctor instinct aside, Sungwoon could already saw every wince he made with a slight movement. “I got it from chasing the bad guys.”

 

“Did you get them?” Sungwoon asked. And Daniel grew silent. “You didn’t?”

 

“They escaped with a truck. Ran me over with the bonnet even.” Sungwoon raised his brows at that. Daniel quickly elaborated further, “But I’m fine. I’m all fine. I managed to dodge in the last minute so they didn’t hit me that bad.”

 

“Fractured shoulder takes about six weeks of rest, do you know that?” Sungwoon’s words were laced with disapproval.

 

“Oh, it won’t take that long for me.” Daniel giggled, letting Sungwoon see the rarer traits of him. He could see a younger version of Daniel, the one that would have nothing to worry about. His eyes crinkled and his little teeth poked out cutely. Sungwoon hid his smile by taking another portion of his porridge. _How cute_ …

 

“Really!” Daniel insisted, “You can see the bandage off of me in a few days’ time. Don’t worry.”

 

“I advise you to keep the bandages on even after you think that you’re ‘healed’,” Sungwoon told him, “You’re surrounded by doctors and nurses here. One of the things that we hate most is when a patient goes around ignoring our advice. Because we know, sooner or later, the patient will come back with a worse injury.”

 

“Don’t you trust me?” Daniel scoffed, “I’m Captain Kang Daniel.”

 

“Okay, _Captain Kang Daniel_ , keep your bandages on and don’t you dare spinning your arm around in front of us. Who do you think you are, Wolverine?” Sungwoon tsked.

 

Daniel shrugged, “Well, I’m more a Spider-man kind of guy. And not to mention, that’s my call sign too.”

 

“Spider-man?” Sungwoon laughed. “What are you, twelve?”

 

“Hey, don’t mock my hero like that.” Daniel argued.

 

“Don’t distract me anymore,” Sungwoon told him, “Let me finish my instant porridge in peace.”

 

With that, Daniel also calmed down, his large smile stayed though, and he noted as Sungwoon ate from the bowl. “Have more if you want,” He gestured backwards, “We have plenty of food. The meat the village head gave us last time is still here. But I don’t think you would want it, cold and all…” Also, considering what event had taken place before they could feast on themselves.

 

“It’s fine,” Sungwoon replied, “I’ll have a proper breakfast tomorrow.”

 

“And you’ll sleep in more tonight?” Daniel more like ‘instructed’ him to.

 

“I’ve slept enough.” Sungwoon reassured him, “No, don’t get me wrong, that was the longest sleep I’ve had in these past few months.”

 

 

After they were done, as Sungwoon waited quietly as Daniel washed their dishes, the captain insisted that he walked Sungwoon over to the Medic Cube (lest Kuanlin combusts seeing how long the team leader is gone).

 

There were some activities around them, soldiers on sentry and even movements inside the Medic Cube, but still, everything was quiet and tranquil. They stopped just right in front of the medical centre.

 

Before Sungwoon spun around to enter the place, he looked at Daniel for a moment. “You should get back to your barrack. Have some sleep. We’ll have another busy day tomorrow.” Daniel nodded. But as Sungwoon made a move to walk inside, Daniel grasped his wrist.

 

 

“I’m glad that you’re okay.” Daniel told him.

 

“Same goes to me,” Sungwoon admitted. Again, he eyed Daniel’s injury. “Wear something over your upper body,” He then added, smiling a bit, “Although I love to see your muscles and all, it’s cold and there are a lot of mosquitoes. Please take care of your body too.”

 

And as he turned around again, his movement was restricted. Daniel was still holding onto his wrist, and moving further down, clasping their hands together.

 

 

“I really want to kiss you right now.”

 

Sungwoon’s head snapped upwards—staring into Daniel’s persistent eyes.

 

“If you would have me,” He continued.

 

Sungwoon said nothing in response to that. Taking in Daniel’s seriousness, he moved, facing Daniel perfectly. Under the moonlight and the light from the canopy and adjacent buildings, he could see clearly every line on Daniel’s face, his composed expression, the way his eyes trailed over to his own lips.

 

With a small nod, he gripped Daniel’s hand back.

👨⚕️

* * *

 


	6. six

💣

* * *

 

[17]

 

Daniel shortened their distance. He pulled his hand from Sungwoon’s and instead held it on his cheek, aligning their faces together. Before he could close off their gap, he whispered, “I miss you.” His lips accidentally touched Sungwoon’s upper lip as he said those words. Sungwoon wanted more. He nodded his head slowly.

 

 

It felt like coming back home, the moment their lips touched. Daniel kissed Sungwoon like they knew no tomorrow. It was eight months of longing, no, even longer than that, he’d always wanted to kiss Sungwoon. And right now, Sungwoon was in his hold, with his arms looped around his neck to kiss him back.

 

Daniel’s hand moved again, this time, cradling the back of Sungwoon’s head. He turned his face to the other side, deepening their kiss. Sungwoon was kissing him back with the same amount of passion. Daniel was beyond happy—he nibbled on Sungwoon’s lips, and when Sungwoon tasted iron on his mouth, he gasped. Daniel had bitten his lips.

 

“H-hey,” Sungwoon called, “E-enough—”

 

Daniel wasn’t having it. He crowded closer onto Sungwoon and kissed him again. With a final smooch, Sungwoon thought that it’d be over, but no, Daniel’s lips travelled to his cheek, to his neck and that was when Sungwoon drew the line. He fisted Daniel’s hair and pulled his face away from him.

 

He was drunk of love, Daniel, and his eyes were hazed as Sungwoon ended their kiss. “Sungwoon-ah,” He hoarsely called.

 

“Hm?” Sungwoon replied back, breathless. He released his grip on Daniel’s hair and tried to calm himself down. Daniel seemed to be snapped into reality as well, as he pulled away from Sungwoon’s personal space. They looked at each other, remnants of their fiery love still evident on their faces. Sungwoon’s lip was bleeding, from being bitten by Daniel. Daniel looked away—it looked… _sensual_.

 

 

And just like that, they were back to Captain Kang Daniel and Dr. Ha Sungwoon.

 

Sungwoon’s lips were bloated, bruise even for the little bite Daniel gifted him with. He was still trying to compose himself, _breathe in, breathe out_. His hair a mess, and Sungwoon subtly raked them using his fingers. Just a moment ago, Daniel had been the one to hold his head. He didn’t know how the shyness suddenly overrode his entire senses. It wasn’t like this was their first kiss.  

 

“Go inside,” Daniel cleared his throat after listening to himself. “Rest well… Sungwoon-ah.”

 

“Y-yeah,” Sungwoon scratched his neck. He was blushing, he could feel it. He nodded his head and said, “You too. Goodnight.”

 

💣

 

“Oh, you’re back.” Sejeong greeted him with a low voice, so as to not wake their other patients. When she saw his appearance, her eyebrows shot up. Kuanlin was checking the stats of one of the patients when Sungwoon came through the door. He was closer to him and could clearly see the differences in Sungwoon.

 

“Your lip is bleeding,” Kuanlin commented, still oblivious to how Sungwoon could gotten himself hurt at that part of his body, “Your lip isn’t cracked just now, even though you were dehydrated and exhausted. Did you not have something to eat or even drink like what we asked you to, team leader? He tutted at the older man.

 

Sejeong had to laugh out loud at that. A patient jostled on her bed and Sejeong quickly bent down to control her laughter. Sungwoon glared at her, _just because_. “It’s nothing, Lin-ah.” Sungwoon reassured the young man.

 

“Oh, Kuanlinie,” Sejeong smiled at her colleague. “How cute.”

 

“What is it?” Kuanlin asked, blinking innocently, “And don’t we have to apply something on hyung’s lip?”

 

“I’ll take care of it.” Sungwoon swatted his persistent away. “Don’t worry—and stop laughing you ahjusshi!” He threatened Sejeong.

 

💣

 

The moment the door closed behind him, Daniel palmed himself with his hand. He could still feel the warmth from Sungwoon’s hold. He kissed Sungwoon… after eight months of waiting, he finally had him in his arms again, finally tasting Sungwoon’s lips again.

 

Daniel felt that sleep would come easily tonight. He turned around to get to his barrack when he saw them—under the canopy, some of his men were sat in a circle, cards in their hands. They were all looking at him with shit-eating grins on their faces. Daniel grimaced, he totally forgot about the soldiers on night duty. Worse, Ong Seongwu was among the audience as well.

 

 

“Goodnight, captain,” Seongwu whistled.

 

Daniel was red, he knew that, his cheeks were warm. Even worse, the new doctor was there as well, in the crowd. Now what would that made him, the captain? But still, Daniel did not regret it. Shy of the consequences, and how Sungwoon would react now that people had actually witnessed them kissing each other, of course, but never regretting it.

 

“I thought you guys are on night duty?” Daniel asked, trying to be firm and speaking in his captain voice.

 

“We are,” Seongwu nodded, that smirk still plastered on his face. “It’s alright, captain, we’ll patrol the area after we’re done with this kiss—I mean, round.” The two words didn’t even come close to being similar. The soldiers snickered and nudged, obviously entertained with the whole interaction.

 

“You better do.” Daniel warned, before taking off.

 

 

“Oh, what is this, Dr. Hwang?” Seongwu pointed out, “I can see all of your cards.”

 

“Ah,” Minhyun looked down at his hands—true, all of his cards were shown to the circle. “Sorry, I was just taken aback.” He said, putting his deck down, “I guess I lost,” He rubbed his neck and let out some laughter when the men teased him.

 

“You don’t play card game much, huh?” One of them asked.

 

“Yeah,” He shrugged, “I’m too busy treating and cutting people open. Even in my leisure time, I would spend it on reviewing medical cases and emergency aids.”

 

“Wow, talk about being the epitome of Dr. Schweitzer.” Seongwu commented. The conversation died when they saw the captain looking at them from his window. “Okay, game’s over.” Seongwu urged his team. “Let’s work now.”

 

“Sorry, we can’t stay for another round.” They apologised to Minhyun as the crowd dispersed. They took their helmets, assembled their uniforms properly and moved to their stationed posts.

 

“Don’t worry,” Minhyun shook his head, “It’s not a problem.”

💣

* * *

[18]

 

Morning came.

 

Sungwoon was already dressed for the day—eyes darkened with eye bags, sure and his lips still bruised from the lip bite, okay. But he was up and about, already moving from beds to beds to check his patients. He barely had an ounce of sleep last night, courtesy of one Kang Daniel, but it was fine. Sungwoon had slept enough before and after he woke up, he’d taken a full course breakfast in the kitchen.

 

He didn’t have much time to waste. People always had a misconception about medical treatment, they thought that the worst had passed after surgeries and all that. In reality, it was the post-operation everyone needs to worry about. The minor patients, Sungwoon could even leave them to the nurses to tend to but the ones tagged with red before, that was his primary concern now.

 

The shot soldier, Private Choi had woken up, and was being fed by Daehwi. He had shown rapid healing and Sungwoon wondered if the soldiers were indeed super humans. The villager stabbed with glass close to his artery was fine, still unconscious, but so far, his statistics showed good signs. It was not 24 hours yet since his surgery was completed, therefore, it hadn’t meant any danger.  

 

 

“Why are you so early?” Jaehwan asked, the moment he entered the Medic Cube.

 

“Save your nagging,” Sungwoon told him, “I’ve already heard everything from Jisung just now.” Jaehwan opened his mouth to say something but Sungwoon just pressed his cheeks together and shut him up. “I’m fine, okay. I passed out, sure, but that happened before. Minor accidents, nothing to worry about. Also, I promise that I will take meals in between of my shifts.”

 

Jaehwan pulled his face from Sungwoon’s hold and massaged his cheeks, “Wow, okay, Team Leader. It’s good if you know then.” He fixed his coat, pretending that his face had not been squeezed by Sungwoon just a few seconds ago. “Anyway, where’s Jisung hyung?”

 

Sungwoon smiled, “He got all stressed out from nagging at me and is now over at the kitchen for breakfast. Have you eaten?” Sungwoon asked as he moved onto Jaehwan’s patient the other day. Jaehwan forewent answering his question and instead gave Sungwoon updates.

 

“Oh, and one more thing,” Sungwoon perked up after Jaehwan was done consulting him on post-treatment. “I heard from Daehwi than the MSF volunteers had arrived? One male and one female doctor?”

 

Jaehwan blinked. He then took a deep breath. Exhale.

 

When Sungwoon saw his reaction, he scoffed, “Why do you look like that? Who is it? Did they demand anything or boss you around when I was knocked out? I know most of the Korean MSF volunteers from my time so maybe I recognise them?”

 

“How do you know that they’re Koreans?” Jaehwan asked.

 

“Daehwi told me.” Sungwoon answered.

 

 

“Ah, right,” Daehwi suddenly appeared from nowhere, “Actually, the male doctor was the one that brought you inside the Medic Cube after you were passed out, Team Leader.” He revealed. With a pout, Daehwi continued, “I didn’t see it because I was in the operating room with Dr. Yoon but I did see a glimpse of his face. Very handsome.”

 

“What level of handsome? Kim Woobin? Park Seojun?” Sungwoon asked. “I know all the handsome ones back in my day.”

 

Daehwi giggled, “Jinyoung even told me that he took care of you last night.”

 

Sungwoon looked at the nurse in surprise, “Took care of me?” When he glanced at Jaehwan, the younger doctor was looking elsewhere. _Wait, something is not quite right_ , Sungwoon thought.

 

“Yeah, he changed the IV bags, kept on checking your vitals.” Daehwi nudged Sungwoon, “Even held his palm over your forehead.”

 

Sungwoon frowned—there wasn’t much doctors or other physicians that he’d worked with that dares to touch him. For most of the touchy-touchy doctors, Sungwoon had always threated to slice their necks open with a scalpel so… This definitely narrowed down the possibilities.

 

 

Before Sungwoon could think of the person, Daniel entered the Medic Cube. Cue their awkwardness and a flashback to the previous night. Sungwoon cleared his throat, unconsciously swiped his lip with his tongue. He could feel the ridges of his bruised lip and tried hard not to think of how good Daniel’s kisses felt.

 

The captain also looked taken aback and he rubbed his cheek with his fine hand. He hadn’t changed the bandages even Jaehwan had offered him that morning but had put his uniform over it. It was a struggle but with Jihoon’s reluctant help, Daniel made it. He ignored his thumping hearts and quickly calmed himself. _Remember your captain voice_ , he thought.

 

 

“What is it, captain?” Daehwi asked. Sungwoon pretended to ignore Daehwi’s little nudge behind his back and looked at the soldier.

 

“We’ll be holding a brief meeting under the canopy in ten.” Daniel announced. “Also, I’ll introduce the volunteers from yesterday to your team. They’ll be here for a few more days before leaving to the next town.”

 

Sungwoon nodded.

 

“Oh, and, Sungwoon-ah,” The informal call alerted all the staffs that were close to that vicinity. Sure, they slipped and regarded Sungwoon as ‘hyung’ from time-to-time, but ‘Sungwoon-ah’? Jaehwan and Daehwi shared a look as Sungwoon tried not to show his bewilderment. He wasn’t sure if Daniel did that deliberately—he probably did, considering how the soldiers were all about formality and discipline and proper greetings.

 

Sungwoon cleared his throat once more. “Yes, _captain_?” He stressed on the syllables.

 

Daniel gave him a smile before continuing, “You need to give some reports to our side as well. For documentation and report purposes.” He looked at his watch and said, “I’ll see everyone in 8 then.”

 

 

“He’s doing it on purpose.” Sungwoon grunted as he made his last-minute checking. Sejeong smiled as she handed him over the charts he needed.

 

“You like it anyway, don’t you?”

 

Instead of answering, Sungwoon just rolled his eyes. He took a deep breath and reorganised his thoughts. Yeap— _don’t get too carried away, Ha,_ he reminded himself, _you’re here for work. Not to reignite your loss romance with that soldier_.

💣

* * *

[19]

 

Sungwoon saw him—from afar, of course, _of course_ , it’d be Hwang Minhyun.

 

_"Yeah, he changed the IV bags, kept on checking your vitals. Even held his palm over your forehead.”_

 

Minhyun had always been like that—considerate of others, taking care of them (of him especially) in his own ways. Of course, it was Hwang Minhyun we were talking about. Next to him, Kaeun sent Sungwoon a small smile. They all worked at the same station during their missionary work—somewhere in Cambodia? Or Yemen? Sungwoon thought. Kaeun was formerly a nurse before she entered medical school to start over again. After she graduated, she joined in the team.

 

And Minhyun—Minhyun… Sungwoon should’ve known. He knew that the other doctor had never stepped down from this field. It was all he ever wanted to do.

 

His colleagues, those who knew of their history, they looked at Sungwoon warily. The last time they saw Sungwoon and Minhyun together, it was over two years ago. And it had not been a pretty sight. Sungwoon sighed, took his place next to Seokwoo who was more than welcoming. The handsome soldier even took a chair from somewhere and presented it to Sungwoon.

 

“It’s fine,” Sungwoon said but even Daniel butted in to invite Sungwoon to sit down. Their point was that he had collapsed the day before. It was as if the small incident had made Sungwoon all impaled and unable to withstand a few minutes of standing up.

 

Deciding not to argue with them and cause a scene, Sungwoon reluctantly sat down. When Daniel whispered in his ears, Sungwoon did not even flinch. “Remember your report later?” Daniel said, as if Sungwoon needed any more reminder. The puff of his breath hit Sungwoon’s side and he tried not to let it affect him. Sungwoon pulled away, quite flustered with Daniel’s bold move and nodded his head.

 

“Okay, _captain_ ,” Sungwoon emphasised on his title. Satisfied, Daniel went back to his post in front of the crowd. He asked them to wait for a few moments until most of the numbers were present.

 

Seokwoo engaged Sungwoon with small talk— _how_ _are you feeling? Did you get any rest_? And Sungwoon even commented on the small injury the soldier had on his knuckles, advising him to take it slow and take care of himself. He tried his best to ignore the persistent stare coming from his behind.

 

 

Daniel was done with his briefing—talking about the injury count, the statistics, what their troops would be doing from now on. There were technical military terms, a lot, and the soldiers seemed to be taking note of what their leader had to say. He sounded like a captain—he _is_ a captain. He addressed the issue, how the attack came to be and how the caught gang members were interrogated back at their headquarter base.

 

And he knew nothing. Yesterday, they had kissed. But little did he know that Sungwoon was once Minhyun’s.

 

“That’s all I have to say from our side.” Daniel said. “I hope everyone, myself included, will be extra careful these days. Report back in every 30 minutes whether you’re stationed outside or inside the bass. To avoid outsiders from reading in our reports, change the sentry password every 2 hours. I’ll tell Team Leader Ha to update their medical staffs as well. Everyone, copy that?”

 

His troop answered him in choral, “Yes, sir!”

 

“Next, I would like to invite Dr. Ha to give some updates on the medical situation.”

 

 

Sungwoon got up from his seat and stood next to Daniel. He scanned the crowd, and when his gaze fell on Minhyun, he cleared his throat. He looked at his charts and took a deep breath. “Good morning, I hope everyone had a nice rest last night.” Hardly, but they graced him back with a smile nevertheless. “And for the MSF volunteers, I believe that Captain Kang here would introduce the two of you to both teams later, so I’ll skip on the introductions.”

 

Seeing the confused expressions on some of the crowd, Sungwoon explained, “We worked with each other before, all three of us. Anyway, I’ll go straight to my report—”

 

 

“Dr. Ha seemed a bit stressed,” Jinyoung commented, whispering to Jaehwan.

 

Jaehwan just shrugged back, knowing well that it wasn’t his story to tell. Sungwoon finished his report and even assigning work to his team, including the two volunteers in the duty roster. Jaehwan had to give him some credits, for those who had no idea what happened between the two doctors before, they wouldn’t suspect a bit the status of their relationship.

 

After a while, the crowd was dismissed and everyone resumed their work. The medical staffs went back inside the Medic Cube sans the team leader and the volunteers. They were still talking to the captain and his second-in-command. Now that a piece of Sungwoon’s past was here, Jaehwan wondered how the older man was feeling.

 

“Come on,” Jaehwan felt Jisung clasping his shoulder. “Let them sort their own business.”

 

“But, hyung,” He resorted to the familiar term. Jisung looked at him patiently as Jaehwan gathered his thoughts. “Will Sungwoon hyung be okay? I mean—”

 

“It’s okay, we should give him some space,” Jisung told him, “Let’s go, we have patients to check on. Don’t worry about Sungwoon. They’re all adults anyway. They can deal with things on their own.” With a final glance, Jaehwan looked at the small group. Well, if Jisung said things would be fine…

 

 

“I believe you have worked each other before?” Daniel addressed both parties. “I guess it makes things easier to be working with some familiar faces,” He said to Minhyun next. Kaeun simply nodded next to him, also feeling awkward since she knew things that the captain did not.

 

“Sure,” Kaeun answered, “We’re happy to have Sungwoon as the Team Leader. It’s even better that he is in charge of the operation. Hopefully our presence here could be of help for the team.”

 

“Of course,” Sungwoon said, smiling at Kaeun. “We need as much help as we can.” Although the choice of the volunteers sent were quite… awkward for him… but he’d take any help he could get. Sensing Sungwoon’s discomfort, Kaeun excused herself to go to the Medic Cube. She tried to pull Minhyun with her but it seemed futile when he was keen to stay.

 

“ _What are you doing_?” Kaeun whispered to him.

 

“I’ll follow you in a bit, noona.” He said. “It’s okay, I won’t be doing anything stupid.” Seeing his determined face, she couldn’t say much as well. With a parting ‘ _please, think before you do anything’_ warning from her, she left the men to do…whatever they needed to do. It was best for her not to meddle in anyway.

 

💣

 

“We’re going to the headquarter for an emergency meeting.” Daniel said to Sungwoon. He noticed that Minhyun was still waiting for Sungwoon, but had brushed the thought to him wanting to discuss some medical things with the team leader. Reverting his attention back to Sungwoon, he continued, “I will leave things to Sergeant Major Ong here. If there’s anything, just call me.”

 

 _Wait_ —he knew that Sungwoon had deleted his number before. _Wrong move, wrong move_ , Daniel grimaced inwardly. How could he salvage that slip of a tongue? “I mean—” He was about to rephrase it along the line of ‘ _Contact me via Seongwu? Or use the military walkie-talkie?’_ when Sungwoon interrupted him.

 

“I will.”

 

Daniel blinked dumbly. Sungwoon was looking back at him in anticipation. “You’re not leaving?” He asked. Next to him, Seongwu tried to cover his snickering.

 

“You have my number?” Daniel asked. When he saw Sungwoon’s little frown, he explained, “I mean, I thought that you would… I mean…”

 

“I still have it, captain.” Sungwoon said again. “It’s okay. I’ll call you if something happens here.”

 

After some more staring, Daniel nodded his head. “Okay, then.” He reassured, more to himself. _Calm down, Kang._ _It’s nothing, why are you so shaken up?_ Daniel tried reeling himself back to calmness. He could easily bend down and kiss Sungwoon right then and there. But rationality to be taken into account, Daniel knew that it wouldn’t be his best and wisest option.

 

“I’ll see you later, Sungwoon-ah.” He said.

 

Sungwoon’s reaction—he shut his eyes in annoyance at Daniel’s careless endearment call—made everything even better. Satisfied with the response he elicited, Daniel took off, with Seongwu following closely behind him. Even Seongwu, he was looking at Sungwoon weirdly. As if he knew something and teases were right at the tip of his tongue. ‘ _Did Daniel tell him about the kiss or what_?’ Sungwoon suspected, ‘ _That bastard, looks like I need to talk to him about that matter’_.

 

 

And when the soldiers were out of sight, Sungwoon turned to address Minhyun.

 

Sungwoon didn’t want to ask obvious questions like ‘ _why are you here?_ ’ or ‘ _what the fuck are you doing here_?’. The questions were similar and Sungwoon knew the answers to them. That was why he couldn’t do much complaining when he knew about the circumstances that bring them together. So, he simply settled for a nonchalant, “You’re here?”

 

 _That was his first word to Minhyun? Really_? Sungwoon questioned himself. It didn’t sound that impactful to him… but whatever, he didn’t care, didn’t _want_ to care about Minhyun anymore.

 

Minhyun was looking at him intently. It was annoying how his gaze seemed to bore into Sungwoon’s mind. He felt naked and exposed, as if Minhyun knew something about him. Almost, it felt like Sungwoon had done something wrong to Minhyun too—which, in his defence considering their history, would be the other way around. Therefore, it was suspicious and wary that Minhyun was looking at him like that. Uncomfortable would be another word to throw in.

 

 

“Yeah,” Minhyun responded.

 

Sungwoon nodded. There wasn’t much he could say to that. Minhyun works wherever, whenever he’s needed. He shouldn’t take it to heart that they were sent here to Urk when they came with good intentions. “We should go inside then.” Sungwoon began to march towards the centre.

 

“It is a surprise that you’re here though?” Minhyun suddenly said.

 

 _We’re doing conversations now,_ Sungwoon thought. He clocked his mouth. _Okay then_ … He looked at him with a raise of a brow, “And why is that so?”

 

Minhyun shrugged and looked over at the Medic Cube. “I thought you made your point clear 2 years ago? That this humanitarian work doesn’t suit you?”

 

 

“True.” Sungwoon admitted. “But I didn’t come here because I wanted to.”

 

Minhyun hummed but his curiousity wasn’t sated then. He took his chance anyway and asked, “Did you upset the director?” He knew he was playing with fire with all of these questions. Sungwoon didn’t seem to be in the mood for some light interrogation at the moment. But, Minhyun was stubborn in his own ways. “I thought things were going well with you? Didn’t you leave the programme for that?”

 

Sungwoon did in fact leave his missionary work behind for his career development back in South Korea. He was offered to man the VIP Department, given the approval to work on his research for that special position of a professor in the sister university and a raise in his monthly checks. But those were actually the additional points. What prompted him to leave was something else entirely.

 

“Are you really asking that right now?”

 

“I was just thinking about it.”

 

“Do you think about your ex a lot?” Sungwoon drilled. “I thought that I will be the least in your mind? When you have these other _commitments_?”

 

“Oh, come on, Ha Sungwoon,” Minhyun smiled weakly. He reverted his eyes from the building to the doctor. “We’re not just exes.”

 

“Really now?” Sungwoon hollowly laughed, “I thought you’d never notice that.”

 

“How could I not? I did lose my husband after all.”

💣

* * *

 


	7. seven

👨⚕️

* * *

[20]

 

“You’re avoiding Minhyun.” Jisung said as a passing comment. He was changing the dressing of the hurt civilian (who had finally regained his consciousness!) when he saw the sulking team leader. When he heard little grumblings from the doctor, he quickly finished his work and approached him. Sungwoon was drawing blood from a soldier who came to donate his blood. Jisung decided to help reassuring the soldier that Sungwoon wouldn’t suck his blood out of him.

 

“Here, lemme,” Jisung took the needle from Sungwoon’s hold. “This would sting for a moment.” Jisung told the soldier, “Keep on pumping that thing. It helps your blood to flow smoother.” And to Sungwoon, he hissed, “Strip that pout off your face. You’re an adult, really. Play the role of one.”

 

“Adults are allowed to feel like this too.” Sungwoon huffed, acknowledging Jisung’s initial comment. He just couldn’t fathom it—how could fate play with his heart like this? “Of hundreds of volunteers around, why does it have to be him?”

 

“You know he’s the best we could have right now.” Jisung understood right away who Sungwoon was referring to (well, since he did ask about a particular doctor). “He speaks English and he’s good at what he’s doing. After all, he’s more experienced than any of us in this field.”

 

“Excuse me?”

 

“Dr. Hwang has worked at countless of countries, helping those in need. You can’t argue with me on this, Sungwoon-ah. Even in Gukmin, he’s the best Emergency Doctor we’ve ever had. Young Schweitzer, remember?”

 

 

“Yeah, but he sucks at minding people’s feelings.” Sungwoon rolled his eyes. “Did you know that he brought up the ‘h’ word with me just now?”

 

“What word?” Jisung asked, “Happiness? Haemoglobin? Halloween?”

 

“Stop joking around,” Sungwoon glared at his friend, “Are you on his side?”

 

“I’m not on anyone’s side.” Jisung said. He lied. He was obviously Team Minhyun once upon a time. He had asked Sungwoon to wait for Minhyun— _he’d come around, he’d return one day, don’t give up on him,_ he kept on stalling for Minhyun, giving excuses on behalf a man who’s given up on their relationship. Jisung had once resented Sungwoon’s decision to fax the divorce paper to Minhyun when he was on a mission in the East Asia.

 

“He deserved it.” Sungwoon insisted.

 

“Then you probably deserve this too. He was abroad, Ha Sungwoon. How could you send the documents to him while he was away?”

 

“But did he return home after that? No, in fact, he sent the documents straight to the courts.” Sungwoon replied right away. “For years. He left me all alone. Did I wait for him? Yes, years of medical school, years of service, years of his humanitarian missions. I came to him, I even joined the MSF for him, just to bring him back home.”

 

Sungwoon then noticed everyone’s stares on him. His staffs, the patients. Even Minhyun. And Daniel. He didn’t realise that his voice had went that notch high. _Oh great_. Sungwoon cleared his throat, spun around and entered the hybrid room.

 

Once he was there, away from prying eyes, he leaned against the wall. Closing his two eyes, he palmed his face with his hands. He let out a long exhale and it didn’t surprise him that it came out trembling. Sungwoon didn’t know how long he stayed there—not that long for he had other responsibilities to tend to—but still. He didn’t want to get up and face the reality. Not after that major slip-up.

 

Before Sungwoon could grudgingly bring himself out of the hybrid room, Jaehwan came inside.

 

 

“How big is the damage?” Sungwoon asked him.

 

“The captain walked out of the Medic Cube.” Jaehwan answered, “He probably pieced the information and concluded that…you were together with Minhyun hyung.”

 

“ _Fuck_ ,” Sungwoon cursed. He was now crouching on the floor, head on his two knees. Jaehwan took sympathy in his senior and sat on the vacant bed across him. “And what about Minhyun? Jisung hyung?”

 

“Jisung hyung is still outside, taking care of the blood donation process. Meanwhile, Minhyun hyung… he also walked out of the Medic Cube.” Sungwoon’s head shot up, “What is it?” Jaehwan asked, alarmed with Sungwoon’s heavy stare on him.

 

“Is he going to say anything to Daniel?”

 

“What could he be saying to the captain?” Jaehwan asked, “It’s not like you two have anything going on anymore. It was in the past. You’ve moved on. Minhyun hyung shouldn’t hold that against you.” Jaehwan had a point, and they both knew that Minhyun wasn’t the type to be picking up fights with just anybody. But still…

 

“I said I hated the likes of him. That I could and would never meet a man whose work prioritise others than me.”

 

“Wow,” Jaehwan grimaced. “And your current boyfriend is the captain of an army force. _The captain_.”

 

“He’s not even my boyfriend.” Sungwoon sighed, although the word ‘yet’ lingered after his sentence. But now, he didn’t know if that would come to be. He knew where he stood, his stance—he still couldn’t deal with the pain, the loneliness that come from a one-sided relationship. He hated the game of waiting, of uncertainties.

 

When Minhyun was doing his humanitarian works, Sungwoon couldn’t sleep for nights after learning the news of a bombing happening in the place he was stationed. And when he finally joined the MSF to be closer to him, Minhyun was more than eager to send him back home. He shunned Sungwoon down, ignored him for months and with hurtful words, he questioned their marriage. As if they had years of nothings.

 

Minhyun’s love wasn’t for Sungwoon, that the team leader assumed. He could never become his number one.

 

👨⚕️

 

As easy as they came to be, it was just as easy for things to fall apart.

 

Daniel never come to the Medic Cube anymore. Even when they met up in the lounge area, or the kitchen, he was always quick to leave the place. Eye contacts still happened, even from afar, Sungwoon and Daniel would always find their gazes back on each other. But Sungwoon couldn’t say the same for their verbal communication. And how was Sungwoon supposed to react to that when the person in interest…wasn’t interested anymore.

 

Sungwoon didn’t blame him, but it still hurt to be neglected again.

 

He could genuinely say that he really likes Daniel. He does. The way he makes Sungwoon feel, his words, his actions—although Sungwoon still felt that he was conceited at times, Sungwoon still admires him. It took Sungwoon so long to open up to another person…and to have such happiness taken away from him again?

 

He truly, truly likes Daniel. However, with how things were unfolding at the moment, Sungwoon didn’t think he could fight for a relationship that caused him this much heartache. Daniel was ignoring him, fine. But when he addressed work-related matter just fine, pretending that nothing had happened between them, that shit hurt more.

 

Sungwoon didn’t know what he should do.

 

 

Other than that, he needed to think of his unresolved matter with his ex-husband, Minhyun as well. Sungwoon no longer felt any romantic feelings towards him, no. Two years of solitary had taught him all about independence and self-appreciation. If we were saying that Sungwoon was being cold and cruel towards Minhyun, then talk about all the times he’d let him come in second all the time they were together.

 

Minhyun didn’t come to search nor try to contact him at all in the period of their separation. He didn’t have the rights to be jealous or possessive with Sungwoon now. They were over. 

 

 

Now, Sungwoon didn’t know anymore. Maybe he really was better off alone.

👨⚕️

* * *

 

[21]

 

This cold atmosphere carried on to the third week of the medical staff’s stay in Urk.

 

Somehow, everyone came to know the story of Sungwoon and Minhyun _and_ Sungwoon and Daniel. It was awkward, mostly on Sungwoon’s part since he was the one link that connected the equations. He could sense it, when people (staffs and soldiers alike) turn twice or thrice when he passed by them. After all, Sungwoon was sure that they talked about it, about him, when he wasn’t around. Even when he was in the close proximity of them, they still do, so.

 

It was almost time for them to leave—another week to go—but it reached the moment Minhyun and Kaeun needed to move to their next destination.

 

They were scheduled to leave at night, one Saturday in the calendar.

 

They had been a great help to the Medic Cube (despite the tense situation) and somehow, everyone bonded over the time they spent together. Minhyun with his late-night card games with the men (despite losing all the time), and Kaeun with the nurses and the doctors (especially Sejeong since they were the only females there).

 

That morning, the teams, both the soldiers and hospital staffs were at the lounge, for a hearty breakfast meal to celebrate the time they had with the two volunteers.

 

Everyone seemed to be having a good time—Sungwoon could hear laughter and more boisterous conversations taking place at the building. He’d already bid his farewell and gratitude to Kaeun, also passing his gratefulness to Minhyun at the same time. He didn’t think that they would be talking anyway so it’s best that he relayed his message via someone else.

 

Sungwoon took the time off from the social setting. He was at the Medic Cube, cleaning after beds and resorting medical products on their respective places. The medical centre was free of any bedded patients then—the soldier able and allowed to walk around already (still with bandages wrapping his body) and two other surgical patients been moved to the bigger hospital closest to their area.

 

Works had slowed down for the medical team.

 

 

The doctor had not expected it, but it was not a surprise that someone came to look for him that morning. Sungwoon thought that it’d be one of his colleagues, sending him food for he was brooding somewhere else instead of celebrating together with the rest.

 

It was Minhyun.

 

 

He approached Sungwoon, sitting right in front of him at the main counter. He never even did this before, two years ago, when their divorce was finalised. _‘What’s with the sudden initiative?’_ Sungwoon thought.

 

 

“Did you really think that I never put you first in my life?” Minhyun asked, starting the conversation.

 

“It’s obvious, is it not?” Sungwoon answered truthfully. Even though he did say that he didn’t want to have anything to do with Minhyun anymore, he admitted that they both needed this—a proper closure. Minhyun looked like he had more to say but was reluctant to speak up his mind. In the end, Sungwoon was the one who broke the tranquilness. “There were many times when I asked myself, ‘does he really love me?’ and usually my instinct said no.”

 

“How could… I mean, we were together for years, Sungwoon-ah. How could you ever think that I did not love you? We were _married_.”

 

“Well maybe I thought that you married me for the sake of convenience, okay? We were young and foolish when we first met, we were each other’s firsts. I lived with the thought of growing old with you.” He admitted it, back then, he had loved Minhyun selflessly.

 

Everyone thought that Sungwoon would be the one on receiving ends. But he was the one who’d ask about Minhyun’s days, get him to go out and explore the world with him, asked him out on dates… all Sungwoon. Now that he really thought of it, he had indeed given it all to be with this man.

 

“Then why did you send me those papers?” Minhyun asked him, hurt laced in his words. “Did you know how hard it was for me to see that?”

 

“You did not even go home.” Sungwoon stressed out. His voice came out as shaky— _no, don’t cry,_ he reminded himself. _You don’t need to cry for him anymore_. He had enough. Everyone had their limits and Sungwoon’s came in the form of more silence from Minhyun. “You did not ask me anything, call me—”

 

“Do I really need to do that to prove that I love you?”

 

“Just admit it,” Sungwoon cut him, “I was never your first priority, that’s a fact. Your work would always come in first, these humanitarian projects you’re doing. Have you ever thought that I actually joined just because I wanted to feel it too? To see the wonders of my husband’s world, why he’d never come back for me? I am a man, I may be strong, but I have feelings too, Minhyun-ah. I’m just a human.”

 

They were already married then, working alongside each other at Gukmin Hospital. Sungwoon didn’t even know that Minhyun had signed up for the Doctors without Border programme. He only came to know the news when his approval letter came. Of course, he was mad, Minhyun planned things as if he had no other people to think of.

 

But Minhyun still left. With a cold kiss on his forehead and a promise to call as soon as he arrived at the headquarter. Sungwoon tried to understand him, he really did, but not when he was fighting solo. Stress came in all directions back then until he was ultimately pressured by the director to choose between his job and Minhyun.

 

So, Sungwoon chose his love. Because that was the only thing he knew back then, _love_.

 

Even after he sacrificed his job, love failed Sungwoon still. Coming back with a heartbreak, he had to succumb on his knees to get the director to accept him back. It was very humiliating. Sungwoon remembered how his heart decided to close itself then.

 

 

That was how their conclusion came to be. It would never work for them, not anymore. Not when Sungwoon had his heart taken by someone else. They mentioned none of _him_ when they talked to each other. Maybe Minhyun purposely chose to not bring it up. He could see it in their eyes, how both feelings were into each other.

 

Sure, Minhyun missed Sungwoon, he probably still loved him. He’s after all, his first love and everything. As much as Sungwoon wanted to argue, he was the best thing that had ever happened to Minhyun. He was the reason why Minhyun was holding on all the times he was away. But apparently, Minhyun’s absence in Sungwoon’s life had terribly wounded him.

 

Minhyun felt sorry. He felt like there wasn’t enough communication between them. He regretted not listening to his heart more—to dial that one number, to call him, to admit that he missed him, to tell him that he loved him. He could only wish once upon a dream. It was too late now.

 

“I am sorry, Sungwoon-ah.” Minhyun said. He gathered his courage and leaned in closer to Sungwoon. “I’m really sorry. I never meant to hurt you like that.” Hurting Sungwoon would be the last thing that he ever wanted. He caressed Sungwoon’s cheek, looking at him with a sad smile.

 

“You did not even look for me in the past two years.” Sungwoon whispered back. He did lean his head on Minhyun’s palm, relishing in the way he once craved for this warmth. But now, it felt wrong. He didn’t feel anything at all, just melancholic and sadness. “You were my everything. I’m sorry I broke it off between us… but I seriously couldn’t live like that anymore.”

 

“I understand.” Minhyun sighed. He leaned in even closer and held their foreheads together. “I understand but I still resented you for it. How could you fax me those documents?” Minhyun laughed, trying to lift up the atmosphere.

 

“I couldn’t reach you.” Sungwoon broke down. There, he couldn’t handle it anymore. He cried, and this time Minhyun was there to wipe off his tears. The only change was that, it meant nothing for them but a trip down the memory lane. “I’m sorry but you were a jerk too.”

 

“I know,” Minhyun nodded his head. He softly pressed a kiss on one of Sungwoon’s closed eyes. “You were my best friend, my confidante, my companion. I took the vow for you, to take care and treasure you forever. I’m not going to break it just because we’re no longer together.”

 

After a while, Sungwoon opened his eyes. He finally regained his composure. “Okay,” He said, “So, truce?”

 

Minhyun laughed at his choice of words. Regardless of everything, it was the intention and meaning that mattered. 

 

 

“Now, stop sulking and come to the lounge room. You should have breakfast, lest you want to pass out again.”

 

“That was only one time!”

👨⚕️

* * *

[22]

Evening came. As courtesy, Sungwoon came out of his cave when everyone was saying goodbyes to Minhyun and Kaeun. In spite of everything, they somehow patched things (?) and would work on their relationship to at least be at friends’ level. Again, Seongwu was tasked to drive them off. Minhyun and Kaeun said their parting words and the male doctor even shook hands with Daniel ( _when did that happen?)_.

 

However, before Seongwu could start the engine, they felt rapid movement under their feet. Everything happened in a split second—buildings were shaking, things fell off their places, and even the canopy began to topple down. The soldiers quickly held the legs of the canopy lest the entire thing fell on their heads.

 

“Earthquake!” Someone screamed.

 

Daniel began shouting at his comrades— _do not go into the buildings, come out from where you were_ , and to _take care of the civilians_. He was moving about, giving them instructions and rapidly talked to his walkie-talkie, probably to alert other stations of the natural disaster.

 

The world continued to shake around them without any intention to stop.

 

Sungwoon was the closest to the Medic Cube—and as sturdy as a temporary building could be—it struggled to hold its weight. Everyone else was panicking and somehow rooted to the ground, and that included Sungwoon. Actions speak faster than words though—Sungwoon felt himself being pulled to a safer zone by the captain.

 

 

“What were you doing there?” He asked, “You could’ve gotten yourself hurt.”

 

“I—” Forgetting any words that was about to come out, Sungwoon just stayed quiet and let himself being held by the captain. Even after the shaking stopped (it took about five minutes or so?), Daniel did not release Sungwoon from his hold.

 

 👨⚕️

 

It turned out to be a small-scale earthquake. When asked upon, Daniel mentioned that it was normal for such occurrence to happen in Urk. They learned not to be panicked by it. But that did not go the same for the rest of the staffs. Everyone was shaken up, in one way or another. Jisung was winging the younger ones, keeping them close to his security. Sejeong even shielded Jaehwan with her body as an act of protection.

 

 

From Daniel’s order, everyone waited under the fixed canopy for the latest update from their HQ regarding the earthquake. While waiting, the landline rang (mobile phones were out of service) so it was normal for people to reach out to them by the old phone. As old it was, Sungwoon was surprised that it could be projected in loud speaker.

 

Anyway, calls came from the HQ base, the main military department back in South Korea (Sungwoon could hear Captain Kang in action again). And also, to everyone’s surprise, a call from Gukmin Hospital as well.

 

Jihoon put down the handle to his chest as he announced to the crowd, “The call is for Team Leader Ha. It’s from Gukmin Hospital, the director office.” He said.

 

Sungwoon’s movement halted. He asked Jihoon in a low voice, “The director office?”

 

Everyone just stared in confusion when Sungwoon shook his head. Usually, Sungwoon would be the first to act, to come into the phone and answer to their superiors like a real leader should be. But this time, the doctor was vehemently refusing to receive the call.

 

“I think it’s best if you answer this, hyung,” Sungwoon told Jisung. He ignored the fact that they also hadn’t talked at all ever since Sungwoon’s little burst towards him regarding his past relationship. Jisung shook his head and grimaced, “You’re the eldest, you should get it.” Sungwoon insisted.

 

“You’re the team leader for a reason.” Jisung spat back, “And I’m sure that he’s going to look for you anyway. Trust me on this, _Team Leader_ Ha.” Sungwoon cringed (although he believed that the director would indeed be searching for him).

 

Seeing the two tossing the responsibilities to one another, Daniel came to the rescue and answered the phone.

 

“I’m Captain Kang Daniel,” He introduced. “Yes, sir, I’m the Head of the Base where your team is stationed. No, the Medic Cube is fine. We haven’t checked the inside but the building itself is still intact. Your team built the Medic Cube with the strongest materials, sir.” More talking on the other line. “Everyone is fine. I’ve counted the number and everyone is present.”

 

Sungwoon took a step back. At that moment, Daniel’s eyes turned to him. “Team Leader Ha Sungwoon?” Daniel echoed. Sungwoon shook his head fervently, even complete with his hand gestures and all. But Daniel was a jerk like that for not tolerating Sungwoon’s No’s.

 

“Over my dead body.” Sungwoon said out loud.

 

“ _What was that_?” The director asked from the other line.

 

Daniel quickly dismissed him and he had to lie, “Dr. Ha is busy checking out our people here. I don’t think he could come to the phone, sir. Also, we cannot really hold a call for this long. Other party might want to reach us as well. If you have something to say to Dr. Ha, why don’t you try contacting his phone instead?”

 

“ _If I could contact his phone, I wouldn’t be calling this number_!”

 

The captain frowned. He hated when people wouldn’t take no for an answer despite given the explanation _in a polite manner_. He took a deep breath, understanding now why both Sungwoon and Jisung didn’t want to get the phone. _He was probably going to yell at Sungwoon_ , Daniel thought.

 

“ _Whatever, just put me on the fucking speaker mode then. Can this phone do that at least_?” He demanded. Daniel did as he was told and signalled for Sungwoon to look at the phone (the doctor had been hiding behind Jaehwan’s back).

 

“ _Ha Sungwoon! I know you’re purposely avoiding my call! Can’t you see that I’m worried about you?_!” Everyone looked at each other—eating up another scandal on the team leader? Interesting… Sungwoon on the other hand was terribly uncomfortable and Daniel almost felt bad for contributing to that.

 

Sungwoon received the call and mumbled out an excuse, “Oh, sorry, sir. I was doing something else—”

 

“ _Now you want to answer the call?! Seriously_ …” His tone went down again—however in the tranquilness of the situation, it was loud and clear enough to be heard by the neighbouring people, “ _I was afraid that something might happen to you, Sungwoonie. Did you know how worried I was when I heard about the earthquake news? This is the reason why I tried to bring you back to Korea again—but you keep on disobeying me_.”

 

“Disobeying?” Daniel mouthed to Sungwoon.

 

“I told you, sir. Once was enough. Twice was pushing it.”

 

“ _What do you mean, Sungwoonie? I’m just watching out for you. You know how much I regretted sending you over to Urk. I think about you all day.”_ In the background, Daehwi let out a retching voice. The director continued gravelling his own grave, “ _Come back as fast as you can, I’ll put up some good words for you so just listen to what I said_.”

 

“Sir, I can’t.”

 

“ _I’ll fucking make you my groom, get it? You don’t have to work at all for the rest of your life?”_ He must be crazy, Sungwoon thought. He regretted letting the conversation carried on that long. When Sungwoon made a move to cut the call short, Daniel held his wrist. “Let me hear what this trash has to say more.” He gritted through his teeth. Meanwhile, the director was still on his fantasy, “ _No, no, you can work. I’ll even get you that professor position that you wan_ t.”

 

“I have to go, sir.”

 

 _“You listen to me, Ha—_ ”

 

“That’s fucking it. Listen, I’m going to repeat this one more time, the moment I come back, I’ll slap my resignation letter to your face. Just you wait.” With that, Sungwoon hung up on the call. Sungwoon cursed at the director once more. He turned back to his team, ignoring all the gapes shown to him.

👨⚕️

* * *

 

 


	8. eight

🕊️

* * *

[23]

 

“You okay?” Minhyun pulled on Sungwoon’s elbow. They were getting ready to leave again, once the coast was cleared by the local people. The roads were safe enough to be trucked through and Minhyun and Kaeun had prolonged their stay enough. Before Minhyun boarded the truck, Sungwoon came forward to say his farewell.

 

“I’m fine,” Sungwoon nodded. He had dealt with the director for so many years, what difference would a stupid phone call made. “I’m really going to resign once I come back.”

 

“And start up your own clinic?” Minhyun asked. He brushed up some of Sungwoon’s tangled hair and Sungwoon immediately caught his wrist, giving him a look. ‘ _Really, Hwang_?” Minhyun laughed and retreated his hand, “Sorry,” He apologised, “Old habits.”

 

“Anyway,” Sungwoon brushed it off, “Thank you for helping around. We could clear off patients faster thanks to you two.”

 

“You know, Sungwoon,” Minhyun said as he hitched himself onto the passenger seat. The window was rolled down and he leaned his posture against the side to continue talking, “You’re quite good at this. One thing the director did good was to send you over to the Emergency Unit. You know he won’t give you what you can’t handle. And true, you could act according to the situation and even lead a team here.”

 

Sungwoon scoffed, “Are you proud of me?”

 

“Of course,” Minhyun nodded his head. “Have you ever thought of joining the—”

 

“In your wildest dream, Hwang.” The doctor shook his head. As Seongwu started to rev the engine, it was really time to say goodbye. “Be careful, Minhyun-ah.”

 

“You too, Sungwoon-ah. If you ever want to join the MSF again—”

 

“Goodbye, sunbaenim!” Kaeun greeted from the other side, next to Seongwu. The truck accommodated three seats in front, meaning all the three personnel were cramped there. But Minhyun was bony, so Sungwoon thought that it wouldn’t be a problem.

 

🕊️

 

“You settled your thing with him?” Jisung asked Sungwoon as they went back to the Medic Cube. There were plenty of work to do there, what more with the earthquake hitting them. Luckily, no one was injured. Sungwoon nodded his head and patted Jisung’s shoulder, “No, it’s okay, save your sorry, Sungwoon-ah.”

 

“But hyung—”

 

“I crossed my line, I admit that. I feel really bad after saying all those words to you. I admit that I wasn’t being reasonable enough to look at it from your side.” And after a while, Jisung added, “It was just sad…because I saw how you two come together. I was just rooting for it and to see how you two were breaking apart just sucks, I guess.”

 

“It was all in the past now…” Sungwoon reassured the senior doctor, “I don’t know how things would happen from now on but… I’m glad that we talked about it. For two years, I’ve been living along with his stuff. Finally, I can get rid of them.”

 

Jisung laughed, “Does that mean Minhyun is finally moving out?” Although everyone knew that Minhyun had never come back during the two-years-period, his properties were still kept in their shared house, in which Sungwoon refused to move out from. “I’ll help you out with it, don’t worry.”

 

“Why, thank you, hyung,” Sungwoon side-hugged him. It was bad enough not to be on talking terms with Jisung, so Sungwoon was very glad that they’d also made up. “But,” Sungwoon saw from the corner of his eyes, a certain captain waiting for him in a distance, “I think I have another issue to settle on.”

 

“Ah sure, your lover boy,” Jisung said, “Oh, it’s good to have a lot of suitors, Dr. Ha.” He teased before making his way inside sans their team leader. Once the door closed behind him, Sungwoon turned around and walked towards Daniel.

 

🕊️

 

“Are you busy?” Sungwoon asked him. “Can you spare some minutes talking to me?”

 

Daniel looked at him in surprise, not expecting that Sungwoon would ask him that. After all, in their… relationship(?), there wasn’t much talking involved. Even before Daniel had left eight months ago, things just happened, escalated, without any of them putting a label on it. That was why things got complicated in the long run.

 

 

The soldier brought him to a lake a few minutes away from their base. Once they arrived at the place, Sungwoon exclaimed, “Woah, I’ve never realised that such place exists here.”

 

They were surrounded by mountains and hills, road treaded with rocks and sand, making the entire base pretty much stuffy and suffocating all the time. Everyone complained about it at first but over the time, they grew accustomed to it. But this—the lake was deep blue, almost emerald and it transcended over the horizon. Sungwoon hadn’t seen such tall trees in a long time (since he came here to Urk).

 

“Are you sure this isn’t the sea?” Sungwoon asked him.

 

Daniel laughed, “I’m pretty sure. There is a beach that is connected to the ocean an hour drive from downtown though… If you want, I can take you there—”

 

“Do you have the time to play truant?” The doctor smiled. “I mean, it’s fine. Maybe I’ll bring my medical team there before we go back next week.” Ah right—they’d be leaving in a matter of one week. Daniel looked down and sighed. It’d be another long run without a certain beauty to look at. Plus, they still hadn’t established what their relationship was.

 

“Are we…” Sungwoon suddenly brought up, “Is there anything going on between us?”

 

Again, where did all of this bluntness come from? Daniel gaped at Sungwoon, quite flabbergasted that he had sprung the question just like that. “We slept together, we kissed, and then we’re back to not talking to each other. So, what is it exactly?” 

 

Sungwoon looked at him and sighed. The captain seemed flabbergasted, shy even, and although Sungwoon likes seeing him flustered, he really needed to address their relationship. He didn't have forever, lord knows that time surely wasn't on their side. Especially in Daniel's line of field, Sungwoon was afraid that he would miss his moments. And so, despite all the walls he built to protect himself, he wanted to come clean. He wanted Daniel to know. “I like you, Captain Kang.”

 

Silence.

 

“Call me Daniel,” The soldier pleaded, “Call my name.”

 

Sungwoon chuckled weakly. Sure, he could call him by his name but would that make a difference in their status? If Sungwoon wouldn’t ever be frank, he didn’t think that they could ever go through this barrier. Daniel noticed the frustration in Sungwoon’s words, in his actions. How could he ever deal with such man? Daniel felt his heartbeat picking up its pace.

 

 _Why was he so hesitant when this was everything he'd ever wanted?_ The moment he saw Ha Sungwoon, once upon under the light of a clinical room. He knew exactly where his heart lies. Daniel was sure. Taken aback, of course, but he would never think twice of what he wanted from them. Carefully, he threaded their hands together.

 

“I like you too, you know that.”

 

“But you ignore me all the time,” Sungwoon said, “You left me with nothing but a stupid letter and that’s it? I’m supposed to just wait for you? My calls won’t get through and so were my text messages. I really tried, okay, Daniel. I tried to make it work even though I hate it—I hate being apart from the people I love, I hate not knowing what’s happening to you, if something were to happen to you.”

 

“Sungwoon—”

 

“I let my guard down, I let you in,” Sungwoon admitted, “I broke all of my promises to myself. The least you could do was to acknowledge me when I came here to Urk. I’m tired of going through the same thing over and over—”

 

Daniel pressed a kiss on his lips—short and brief. He didn’t pull away immediately. Not when Sungwoon hadn’t slap the force out of him. He knew that the doctor was capable of doing so. Even when he had never seen it, that didn’t mean that Daniel wanted to experience it. His hand reached up to caress Sungwoon’s cheek.

 

 

“Are you trying to shut me up?” Sungwoon asked, eyes sharp, staring straight onto Daniel’s.

 

“I just want to kiss you,” Daniel replied.

 

“Usually after this happens,” Sungwoon brought up, “You would leave me hanging again.”

 

 

“Those were,” He paused, playing with Sungwoon’s ear as one more hand sneaked behind his back to rest on his hip, “Those were under two different circumstances.” Seeing Sungwoon’s unimpressed stare, Daniel continued, “One was a duty call. The mission was… it was hard. Long and complicated. _Dangerous_ ,” Daniel added, “I didn’t know if I would come back alive. I didn’t… I didn’t want to contact you and let that be our last form of communication. That wouldn’t be fair for you.”

 

Sungwoon didn’t reply him. But as the doctor winded his arms around Daniel’s middle, hugging him securely, Daniel continued, “And the next, I was jealous. Dr. Kim,” _Jaehwan_ , Sungwoon supposed, “He told me not to worry about it. That things happened in the past and you’ve moved on. But _he_ was there and he seemed like he could protect you better than I could.”

 

“You’re a _captain_. Captain Kang Daniel—”

 

“I’m a soldier. Protect you physically, sure, I’m capable of that… but protect you after I’m gone? Not a day passed by in those eight months that I did not miss you, or think of you. I tried everything, working out, going on missions... I even drank, drank and drank. Still, I couldn't get you out of my mind. Since I met you, my heart had never been the same. That was hell, that longing was the absolute hell. I didn't want you to go through it.” As if it didn't happen anyway. 

 

“Stop. I hate it.” Sungwoon said as he snuggled closer onto Daniel’s hold. “I’m afraid. The village attack, the earthquake, in my head, all I could think about is your safety. This is what I hated—”

 

“Hey, hey,” Daniel stopped Sungwoon from spiralling down. “I’m not going to die that easily.”

 

“You better not.” Sungwoon threatened him, “I’ll go to your grave and kill you with my own bare hands.”

 

“I’m sorry. I will try. I'll try my best. The only place where I'd rest is in your arms. Please, look at me,” He put his hand over Sungwoon's chin and tilted his head up. "I'm really sorry—"

 

“I really don’t want to hear that anymore.” Sungwoon said. “Just—kiss me.”

 

“If I kiss you right now, will you be mine?”

 

Sungwoon stared up at the man. The person who’d taken all of his heart. He had guarded himself from such love for a very long time and fate really did have a thing to ruin people’s plan. When he looked at Daniel’s face, love alone wasn’t enough to explain it—pain, heartache, sacrifices, admiration. 

 

“You fool,” Sungwoon smiled, cradling Daniel’s face in his palms, “I’m already yours from the very beginning.”

 

🕊️

 

“Oh, where is Sungwoon?” Jisung asked the next morning.

 

“Yeah, where did Dr. Ha go?”

 

“Really, I haven’t seen him at all since last night.”

 

“Oh, come to think of it,” Someone pointed out, “I didn’t even see him this morning. And his bed was made up too.”

 

A light bulb appeared above their heads and they looked at each other. Something was definitely going on here. Woojin, one of the soldiers tasked for breakfast duty that morning smirked at the questions from the medical team. Jihoon, who was sitting along with the team and having his meal, looked at his partner, “Woojin-ah, why do you look like that? Do you know anything?”

 

Woojin just snickered and whistled to himself. Even if he saw the doctor furtively went out of the captain’s room this dawn, he would take the secret to his grave. He didn’t want to feel the wrath of the doctor, _no, thank you very much_. The captain, Woojin knew that he’d covertly loved the preening but that won’t be the case for the doctor.

🕊️

🕊️

* * *

[24]

 

“It’s so quiet here without Dr. Ha,” Sohye commented from where she was sitting in front of the computer. The VIP main lounge was empty and usually, the senior doctor would be there to cheer his colleagues up, even by simply having a conversation with them. Now, all that’s left was a doctor who’s been stuffing his food with _mandu_ s instead of working.

 

Jaehwan just scoffed at Sohye’s words, “Sungwoon hyung was not even in our department for months before he left the hospital. He’s been working endlessly at the ER.”

 

“Well, I’m just saying that I miss him.” Sohye spat back to the doctor. The other nurse stationed there shook her head, knowing well what would come next. Kuanlin who was there to send a file, looked up and scurried to leave the department as soon as he saw steams blowing from both the doctor and the nurse. “Well, at least he’s been doing work here. Unlike a certain doctor here…”

 

“What is that supposed to mean?” Jaehwan fought back, “Do you know how hard I work at Urk? I’m just taking some rest after the change of scenery.” He brought his hand to his cheek and rubbed it dearly. Sohye cringed.

 

“It’s been a month since the team has returned.” The nurse reminded him, “ _Ah_ , I miss Dr. Ha. It’s so peaceful with him here, all the world seems to be brightened up by a fairy.”

 

“If you miss him that much, why don’t you resign and join him too?”

 

“Oh,” Dr. Yoon who was walking pass by perked up at Jaehwan’s comment, “Who’s going to Busan too?”

 

🕊️ 

 

“Ack! I think that someone is talking about me.” Sungwoon cried as he bit his own tongue. He tried to soothe the pain with his juice but it still stung. He bet that it was Jaehwan, or probably Daehwi gossiping about him. Ever since Sungwoon’s relationship had came to light, the nurse had been speaking in romance novels language about how he wished he was as ‘desirable’ as Dr. Ha.

 

“Probably Lee Daehwi and his day fantasy again,” Jinyoung commented. He was sitting across the doctor. Since Sungwoon had been transferred to Kangeui Hospital in Busan, Jinyoung had religiously followed him as well. Sungwoon felt bad about the entire thing, he felt guilty that he had taken part in shaping Jinyoung’s decision. The young nurse would’ve had better experience and higher chance of being promoted in Capital Seoul.

 

Jinyoung had countlessly told him that it was fine, that the decision was made because he hated being bossed around in the Emergency Department too.

 

The two had finished their lunch and was taking their rest in front of the west wing of the hospital when an ambulance came. It seemed that no one from the Emergency Department had come to assist the paramedics yet so Sungwoon acted on impulse and asked for the statistics when the door opened.

 

It was a chocking case and the paramedics had done first aid abdominal thrusts but nothing seemed to be working in the aid of the patient. It was an old lady who seemed like she was turning blue each second passed by.

 

“Why isn’t everyone tending to her?” Sungwoon asked when they got to the ER. Some of the doctors were working on other cases and none deemed the case serious enough. Sungwoon managed to calm the patient down while looking for any available physicians.

 

 

_“Leave the emergency case to us.”_

_“We’ll get to it in the order of rescue.”_

_“Can’t you see that I’m dealing with a CA here?!”_

Sungwoon couldn’t let the patient be. Chocking is lethal and is a leading cause of accidental deaths. Even though it wasn’t his ER but he knew where his priority lies. The patient started to heave noisily and no one seemed to be ‘free’ enough to look at her condition.

 

“What are you going to do, doctor?” Jinyoung asked. He also noticed that the patient had cyanosis since her airflow had been restricted. “Don’t tell me…”

 

“I’m going to perform a tracheotomy.” Sungwoon revealed. “Get me the things I need, please.”

 

“But doctor—”

 

“Nurse Bae, quickly before the patient is dying.”

 

Jinyoung grimaced, thinking of filling another transfer form but did as he was instructed anyway.

 

🕊️

 

“From which department are you?!” One of the ER doctors demanded to know when they saw Sungwoon finish dressing up the open slit on the patient’s neck. She was breathing normally again. “Did you know whose throat had you slice open just now?”

 

“I don’t know, I’m a doctor and I treat people in need. The patient has been showing chocking symptoms since she was brought it and no one bothered to even check on her. Now you’re screaming at me for saving her?”

 

“Okay Dr. Schweitzer, Dr. Lee,” Another doctor tried to break the fight. “Let’s not fight now. Someone, prepare Director Kang for a surgery to take out the blockage.”

 

“You’ll pay for this,” Dr. Lee, apparently warned as he helped wheeling the patient away.

 

 

“Wait, what, _the director_?” Sungwoon asked the doctor who’d resolved the tension earlier. She nodded and gave an encouraging pat on Sungwoon’s back, telling him that he’d done a great job. It was a neat tracheotomy.

 

🕊️

 

“Why do I have such fates with directors?” Sungwoon sighed as he was stalling time before he entered the VIP room. The director’s surgery was successful and she seemed as active as ever on her bed. Sungwoon knocked on the door and was given the green light to enter.

 

“Hello, Director Kang,” Sungwoon bowed and introduced himself, “I’m Dr. Ha Sungwoon. I was transferred from Gukmin Hospital just a few weeks ago.”

 

“A new doctor?” The director smiled. She seemed entertained by the look of her smile. Sungwoon made a mental note to prepare another transfer form as well, as Jinyoung said before. “Oh no, don’t look at me like that. I’m not going to be mad at you.”

 

“Oh?” Sungwoon asked. “You’re not?”

 

“Yeah, now come closer,” The director called. She seemed motherly and Sungwoon guessed that it was fine for him to do as he was instructed. When he took slow steps towards her, she pulled his wrist and patted it with tenderness. “I just want to thank you, with all my heart, really. Don’t worry, don’t think that I would demerit you for this. You’ve done what a doctor should be doing, saving people.”

 

“Thank you for your kindness,” Sungwoon bowed down. In the course of waiting to be called, he was really worried if he was to be kicked out of another hospital. With that record, it would be harder to get employed. He even thought of applying for the MSF again as Minhyun suggested to him once.

 

“Yeah,” She continued, “Thanks to you, I can live another day to see my stupid son.” Upon seeing Sungwoon’s curious face, she added, “Oh, he’s in the military. He’s due to go home for a leave but the brat had been spending all his time in Seoul. I don’t know what he really likes about his base there.”

 

Sungwoon smiled, not knowing what to do with that extra information. Suddenly, the director held his wrist again, “May I know what this is, young man?” Sungwoon looked down to his wrist. Looping securely around it was Daniel’s gift for him almost a year ago. He couldn’t help his smile, also that blush on his face.

 

“It’s nothing,” Sungwoon shook his head, somehow bashful for the question asked, “Just a gift from someone.”

 

“Oh?” She nodded. She pulled her hands away and put them on her lap. “It’s just that,” She began, “It looks somehow special?” The silver metal hung loosely on Sungwoon’s wrist because it wasn’t his perfect size. But still, he wore it all the time, to remember a lover who’s far apart from him. It acts as a form of reassurance, that Daniel is always close to him in heart, despite being far in physicals.

 

“It must be really special then…” She smiled fondly.

 

“I have it on all the time. Oh, but _not all the time_ ,” He quickly rephrased, “I take them off when I’m on my surgery and all.” That caused her to laugh and seeing the warm expression on the lady, Sungwoon contagiously laughed as well. It seemed that the transfer form could wait this time.

 

🕊️

 

“Dr. Ha, there’s a patient that’s been asking specifically for you.” Jinyoung called from the telecom. Sungwoon was just trying to get a shut-eye in the doctors’ lounge. _Why did Jinyoung have to resort to the noisy telecom?_ Sungwoon had no idea. He rose up from his lying position and grumpily pulled off the eye mask. It seemed that it’d be another goodbye to his rest time.

 

Sungwoon put on his coat and fished out his phone. He was making his way onto the Emergency Department, at the same time checking his phone. Oh, Jinyoung apparently had texted and called him a few times on his phone. Thinking that it was probably a real emergency, Sungwoon picked up his pace and began running.

 

“What is it?” He asked, the moment he slid through the door. “Who’s here? Is it a serious case?” _Another higher up?_ For Sungwoon had been butting heads with troubles wherever he goes.

 

Jinyoung turned to him with a nonchalant expression (like usual) and just gestured to the bed behind the curtain. Looking at the private setting, Sungwoon leaned in to whisper, “Is it someone important? Who’s that?” Like a real doctor, he asked as well, “What’s the diagnose? Is it something embarrassing?” Because believe it or not, Sungwoon had witnessed plenty of cases where he was needed to pull something (or a few things) from a specific body part.

 

“The patient said that he has trouble with his heart.” Jinyoung said.

 

Sungwoon looked up, accepting the charts that the nurse had given over to him. “Trouble with his heart? Breathing problems? Pneumonia?”

 

“I think you should see him yourself,” Jinyoung shrugged, pretending to be busy with other stuffs.

 

Sungwoon narrowed his eyes on him and looked at the chart handed over to him. The stats showed good signs, just a former injury in the shoulder blade. It said here that the pain was acting up in the fractured part but nothing was mentioned about heart problems, or breathing problems. Weird, but Sungwoon put the charts under his arm and opened the curtain with his other hand.

 

 

“How long must it take for me to meet my attending physician?” The man on the bed groaned.

 

Sungwoon was surprise, of course, that’d be a given. The charts he was holding fell to the ground with a small thud. He made no move to pick it up. Not when the person on the bed was someone that he’d been dying to see all these times.

 

“Captain Kang?” Sungwoon called, the words seemed strange after not addressing or calling him for an extended period. “Why—how are you here?”

 

“I thought that you’d be happy to see me?” Daniel asked, “Now that your waiting is over?”

 

“Did you quit your job?” Sungwoon asked. He felt bad for asking it but there was no way for Daniel to be showing up in front of him for no reason. His duty wouldn’t allow him such free time. Daniel giggled at Sungwoon’s question and shook his head.

 

“No, sir,” He answered, “I did not quit my job. I’m sorry if my answer is disappointing you.” Their last argument had been of Daniel’s job and his commitments. He knew that it was a controversial thing to be brought up and he didn’t feel offended over that comment. He knew that Sungwoon was still in shock. “I'm on a leave so I came here right away.”

 

“Why?”

 

“To see you? Of course?” Daniel asked as if the answer was obvious. It was obvious, as clear as the blue sky. Daniel’s hand moved to pull Sungwoon in for a hug. But before their bodies could come in contact, Sungwoon’s arms held itself out on the bed. Daniel looked at him in confusion, “Why? Is anything wrong?”

 

“Your charts said that you have pain in your shoulder.” Sungwoon said.

 

“Stop acting like a doctor and hug me,” Daniel sighed. Noticing Sungwoon’s face that said it all, with bolded, ‘ **I _am_ a doctor**’ across his expression, Daniel pouted and added, “Please?”

 

Sungwoon did so albeit hesitatingly. However, the moment their bodies came together, he felt all of his problems, his worries, fading into thin air. Daniel’s hand was quick to draw the curtain back on, shielding them from prying eyes.

 

“I miss you, Ha Sungwoon.” Daniel whispered.

 

“I miss you too, Kang Daniel.” When he pulled away, Daniel noticed the shining silver on Sungwoon’s wrist. He smiled at it but made no comments whatsoever, but the way he looked at Sungwoon made his heart thumped crazily inside him. Sungwoon kissed Daniel squarely on his lips, simply because he was allowed to. Daniel couldn't express enough how happy he felt. He felt like he could ask for Sungwoon's hand in marriage at any moment now. He wouldn't mind spending all of his years with him.

 

Sungwoon was smiling back at him and Daniel felt so lucky to have him here, in his arms, close to him.

 

“I really, _really_ , _really_ miss you.” Sungwoon enunciated each word with a long kiss. “How long will you be staying? Will you spend your leave with me?"

 

“If you would have me.” Daniel replied back. “Would you?”

 

“Forever and always.”

🕊️

* * *

 


End file.
